Naruto Sensei
by Tyler Marcoz
Summary: Sasuke was not really happy with his team. The shy Hyuuga, and the laziest person he'd ever known where not people he'd have picked. And he never expected how a blue-eyed, blond-haired, and newly minted jounin would transform them all into a true team. AU
1. Part 1, Chapter 1

Naruto, and it's characters, and it's story, and everything else is © Masashi Kishimoto.

**Naruto-sensei  
**_In history, there are a few key triggers that can shape the course of history. Change some of these, and you change time itself. One of these triggers, the birth of a boy with blond hair and blue eyes, sent history on a very different path that is still working it's way out. But what if his birth had come far earlier, and the event that would change his own future (and that of his home village) was changed as well. _

_Naruto was five when the Kyuubi was sealed into his body by his father. And thus, Naruto Namikaze faced something very different and yet very much the same as he grew up. But this single event sent ripples across time. They made a world in which Minato never became the Yondaime, and the Third Great Shinobi World War never came to a true end. They made a world in which Itachi Uchiha, traitor to the Uchiha, would reveal the treachery of both his clan and of Danzou, the Fourth Hokage. They made a world in which a young Naruto Namikaze would turn eighteen, and be given a young team of genin, fresh from the academy._

_This is their story._

**Α**

The office of the hokage was uncharacteristically quiet for this time of day. Usually it would be a hub of activity, center of all the day-to-day business that went into running the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was a strange thing to watch, quite entertaining in a way. The hokage would sit in his seat at the oaken desk that had been passed down from generation to generation of hokage. He would sit in an almost peculiar tranquility as the world rushed around him. The duties of the hokage would be fulfilled here, from paperwork to reports to the receiving of diplomatic envoys. He was not particularly fond of the latter, nor the former, but he did it all without complaint. The room would fill and empty over and over. It bustled with people; assistants and specialists, young genin teams with their team's jounin-sensei reporting in for missions or other such duties. It was a storm of activity, and sitting at its center would be him.

He was the youngest of all the hokage, the Godaime who had shown the treachery of not only the previous hokage but of his own clan at the same time. His skill was unparalleled, his loyalty was unquestioned, and his love for his village was unending. So much so that he had put his own father, the head of a conspiracy to perform a coup d'etat, to the sword. Possessing a love of peace and a strong sense of duty, he had sat as the hokage for five years, since he was only thirteen years old, and since the time he had revealed the dire plot. When he revealed the plot of the former hokage to the village he had done so not out of his own desire for power, but because he was, over everything, loyal to his village first, hokage second, and clan third.

And so here he sat, the Fifth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, head of the Uchiha clan, and secret bearer of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Here sat Itachi Uchiha, Godaime.

He had turned his chair around, staring out over the village with the cold face that had often deceived people. Only a select few people saw the true Itachi, and those that did could not help but love him. One of those people was standing next to him, someone who had served over him and now under him. Kakashi Hatake had that strange history, and was one of the few people that Itachi called sempai due to their time shared in the ANBU Black Ops. Itachi had grown to trust Kakashi, and it was not uncommon for the hokage to consult him on various matters, or simply talk as normal people did. That was a rare commodity for Itachi, and he valued it greatly.

Right now, however, they were talking about something far different. They were speaking of a newly promoted jounin who had just been given the authority to become the sensei of a three-person genin team as the coming class came to an end. Both Itachi and Kakashi were very familiar with the young man, both personally and of his many exploits in the various border skirmishes with the Village Hidden in the Rocks that still sprung up every so often. For Itachi, it was particularly personal; the man was his former teammate, and another of the few people he truly trusted.

"I wonder, sometimes, what might have happened had the attack not come when it had," Kakashi said. He was leaning back against the wall to the left of the hokage, staring out of the window as well, watching as the sun began to set over the village. "You might not have had your position, Itachi-san."

The hokage smiled at the comment. Kakashi was one of the few people who spoke so freely around him, and it was quite refreshing, "Of course, Kakashi-sempai. He was an amazing man. The Hiraishin won us that war. Had It not come when it had, I have no doubt he would have led the village to peace."

Kakashi simply nodded as he remembered his old sensei. Minato's legendary Flying Thunder God Technique, the thing that had earned him the name of Konoha's Yellow Flash, had decimated entire armies during the Third Great Shinobi World War. But the Kyuubi attack had brought an end to that, when Minato sacrificed his life to save the village.

"I hear that he is trying to learn it," Itachi said suddenly. He stood up and cross his arms behind him, "Do you think he can, Kakashi-sempai?"

"He is his father's son," Kakashi replied quickly, smiling beneath his mask. "If anyone could, it would be him."

"Yes. You know there was a fit when I granted his request to train a genin team."

"You know there would be, Itachi-san."

"Of course."

Itachi paused a moment, soaking in the beauty of the village at sunset for a moment before he spoke again, "The team assignments are on the table behind you. Take a look at them would you?"

"You didn't stick me with a group, did you?" Kakashi said with a frown. Itachi just chuckled.

"I thought you might be curious about _his_ team, actually," the hokage said, smirking as he did. The expression only made Kakashi frown even more. When Itachi found something amusing it usually caused anything but that in most other people. As the white-haired jounin made his way over to the table he began to wonder what the hokage was up to. His one eye opened wide in surprise as he saw the assignments. Most of them were fairly straight forward, and he noticed quite a few of the clan names in the list. But it was not until he got down to the seventh team that he was truly surprised.

The team was composed of three clan children, something that was a small bit surprising in itself. Shikamaru Nara, next in the long-line of Nara clan shadow users, and the heir to the Hyuuga clan, a girl by the name of Hinata. The scores on both weren't particularly impressive. But, the last member of the team was what actually shocked him. The boy was the prime rookie of this class, having topped his class in all areas. He was also the hokage's younger brother.

"Team 7," Kakashi began, the soft smile never leaving Itachi's face, "Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuuga, Sasuke Uchiha."

He paused and looked up, chuckling once before he finished, "Jounin Sensei will be Naruto Namikaze."

**Β**

It was early morning, barely five AM. Sasuke was already getting dressed as the sun barely broke over the Uchiha compound. His room was spartan, by choice rather then by necessity. His various training aids littered it, scrolls stacked high on the shelves and desk. He was always studying, always training. It was why he rose so early, to get a few hours of practice in before he went off to the academy. Soon, he would be getting those early extra hours in before going off to meet with his new team. But he should have been doing that years before.

Often, Sasuke wondered why he tried anymore. He pushed himself to the limits, topped the class in every area, and was well ahead of his class. There was little doubt in his mind, nor in the minds of his mother or even his teachers, that he could have passed the genin examination far earlier then he'd been allowed. It should have been allowed, Sasuke felt. He deserved it for all the work he put in; he deserved to be recognized as a prodigy, just like his brother. But they never saw him, and he always lived in that shadow, despite everything.

So many times he'd felt so fed up that he wanted to just quit trying so hard, but he couldn't. He tried to be lazy once, but found it boring. He tried to slack off, to just not study so hard, or not to do well, but it was impossible. When he was faced with a challenge he just launched himself at it. Sasuke supposed that was what they called natural talent. It was amusing really; the one thing he couldn't do was fail. It was proof of his prodigy, and yet it was still less then his brother.

His hokage brother. Sasuke wondered if Tobirama Senju felt the same way under the shadow of his brother, Hashirama. That thought had gotten him through hard times before. The knowledge that a brother can rise to be great, even as great as his brother was. Tobirama had given organization to what his brother had made, he had refined it into something better. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was given true shape due to Tobirama, and that thought made Sasuke hope he could one day do the same. He was unable to fail, it seemed, meaning he had to succeed. There was no other choice.

Of course, it was much harder when his brother kept holding him back. Sasuke knew he was, though he'd never admit it. Itachi was head of the Uchiha clan and the hokage, and his opinion carried more weight in the two sides of Sasuke's life than any other. In the village and clan he was the supreme authority. Sasuke knew that Itachi did not want him to graduate early, and that confused the younger of the brothers. After all, hadn't Itachi done just the same?

Sasuke sometimes thought it was because Itachi wanted to keep him back out of fear, but that was silly and the young Uchiha knew it. His brother loved him dearly, Sasuke knew. He'd asked once why he had done what he had done; why had Itachi killed father and revealed the Uchiha's plan? Sasuke had been argueing with his brother, and he was angry. It had been years after, and not once had he even considered bringing the subject up. It was a taboo, unspoken yet clear, and he broke it out of simple anger.

Itachi had looked at Sasuke with an expression that the boy had almost never seen. It was one of sadness, one of suffering.

"I seem very cold to you, don't I, Sasuke?" he had said, looking off into the distance as he did. "But I love many things. I love my clan, and I love my mother. More than this, I love my village. But above all of that, there is one thing that I love even more, and one thing that I could not raise a hand against. There is one thing that I would do anything to protect."

Itachi had grown silent then, eventually causing his younger brother to ask who or what this thing was. It was then that Sasuke had seen yet another expression from his brother that he had never seen before and had never seen again. Itachi's eyes seemed so tormented, and something almost like anguish came over him. The expression faded into that brotherly smile and Itachi had disappeared with a flicker.

It would be some time before Sasuke realized that was exactly it. It had been a look of suffering due the question. It would take even longer for Sasuke to realize why.

Itachi had not answered the question with words, but eventually Sasuke realized he had answered it with that single expression. Itachi loved his little brother, and would do anything to protect him. Sometimes, though, Sasuke wished he wasn't so protected.

Sasuke finished getting ready and sprinted out of his room. As he passed his parent's bedroom his mind drifted slightly. It seemed to do that more often lately, a random sight or sound triggering a chain of introspection and thought despite his wishes. It was his parents who came up this time. His mother was still sleeping. She slept a bit later then she used to, and she went to bed a bit later too. She still smiled all the same, but sometimes it seemed little bit forced, around Itachi in particular. Those were a few of the changes that the young Uchiha had noticed in his mother ever since father had died. Or, rather, since his father had been executed.

He had been neither the first nor last of the Uchiha executed for treason, though he had been the head of it all. Sasuke wondered if his father would find that almost mildly insulting; despite his place in the treasonous plot and despite his relation to his own executioner, he was not given a special place at all. He was just another guilty man, killed like all the others.

As Sasuke passed through the house his eyes fell onto the memorial shrine for his father, and he never failed to be shocked that it was even there. There was an offering there, and a softly burning stick of incense. Itachi must have set it before he left. Sasuke had never prayed at the shrine, and never made an offering. For a short while he thought that it was his mother who was setting out the offerings, but while he did see her pray sometimes he had never actually seen her light a stick of incense nor set out any offerings. And, he realized, given the offerings were set out long before his mother woke up that it must have been his brother who set them.

Sasuke had never seen Itachi set them out.

He slid the front door open softly and shut it without a sound, heading out into the streets. Sasuke was fairly sure he hated his father. He loved him too, of course, because he was his father. Sasuke was fairly sure his brother was the same way, a strange combination of hate and love. Why did everyone think those were mutually exclusive? Love and hate were not opposites, despite what people sometimes said. They were just emotions, just feelings that one had. Related, to be sure, and one often made it harder for the other to exist, but they were not exclusive.

He knew this because he felt them both for his traitor of a father, a father whom never acknowledged him as his own person; a father whom could be as cold and harsh as Itachi, but without showing the hidden warmth that Sasuke's brother could, a father who betrayed his own village, his own position of power, out of pure greed. But he was also a father who had raised Sasuke and, in a twisted way, pushed and believed in him. Even if he hadn't, Sasuke knew he'd still love him. Father was not a cruel man, and he had provided well for his family. His greed was motivated partially for their sake; he wanted more for his family, even if he had been an idiot, traitorous fool in how he had gone about it.

Cold morning air bit at the young teen's skin as he ran, not stopping to say anything to the few servants and early risers that he passed as he made his way through the compound and headed for one of the many Training Grounds nearby. The Uchiha lived on the outskirts of Konoha, which suited Sasuke just fine; he was fast enough to get into town when he needed, and close to many of the training fields too. Some in the clan resented being set farther out, but little complaint could be made. The clan's lands were still primes real estate and they had not been punished for the treasonous acts of their leaders other then the loss of the members. That hadn't even been all the conspirators, simply the largest of them. They were lucky the village had accepted this, and Itachi's oath.

It was that reason that prevented most from complaining when the Military Police were disbanded. Some rumors spoke that the Hyuuga clan was petitioning to have their own force started in secret, a fact that made many Uchiha bristle but none would openly complain. Pride was a luxury that was ill afforded by the clan these days, even more so when their clan head also wore the wide-brimmed hat of the hokage.

Sasuke vaulted over the walls of the compound and took to the roofs. The few early risers from both in and outside of the compound never even batted an eyelash; though it might shock those in a normal town, here in one of the hidden shinobi villages it was as common to see as street vendors. Shinobi were practical people, as well. Those with no time to spend moving through crowds took to the roofs for speed, and shinobi almost universally loved speed. When one has the capability of going as fast as they could it was simple human nature to fall in love with it. Sasuke knew this to be true; he'd fallen in love with it too.

In fact, he found these morning trips across the rooftops and towards his favorite training ground to be one of the best parts of the day. Focusing on pushing himself faster and higher, he could block out the rest of life. No worries about his brother, or his progress, or academy scores, or his new team. He could worry about how much chakra he used in his pushes, and how much he used to soften his landing. He focused on gauging distances, or on avoiding pitfalls, water towers, and close lines. It was a simpler and easier thing, to focus only on the now instead of the past or the future. Sasuke had once wondered if maybe that was why many of the Uchiha ended up more cold after developing their sharingan; the ability to predict and plan so much easier left even more time in the day for worry and wonder.

But not right now. Right now there were no thoughts of his brother or father, and certainly no thoughts of the nature of love and hate. No mature musing or pondering that someone his age had no place at all pondering or musing about. Right now, there were just rooftops and clotheslines and the clashing feel of warm morning sun and cold morning air. And it was good.

**Γ**

It was early morning, just after eight AM. Hinata sat in silence, having woken up a few minutes before but feeling an almost crippling sense of dread wash over her. Today was the day she was placed on a new genin team and would be sent out on various missions for the good of the village. It was the first day of the rest of her life, a day that would define her for the rest of her life, she knew. Of course, she should have had her life already figured out and set up for her. She was the eldest child of the Hyuuga clan head, a fact that was supposed to have destined her as the clan heir. But she was weak, shy, ineffective, and untalented. She knew this because he father had told her so, in no uncertain terms.

She needed to get out of bed and get ready. No need to cause any more unwanted attention on her due to oversleeping, despite the dread she felt. She wished she could fade away, some times. It was why she tried to be so unassuming. There was no privacy in the house of Hyuuga, no place she could go to hide. She was always being watched. It was not modesty that dictated her wardrobe, but rather the wish to draw as little attention as possible. Lucky for her, that had worked fairly well at the academy. She hoped just to get by, because she knew she wasn't going to be the top of the class. How could she? As her father always said, she had no drive and no natural talent.

There was no expectation of acceptance even after she'd been granted her hitae-ite. Her father would do that only if she was top of the class, she knew, and she also knew she could not reach that. There was no way for a weak person like her to do that. So instead she just got by as much as she could. Middle of the road so she wouldn't call more attention to herself; if she was near the top she'd be noticed for not being good enough to be all the way, and god forbid she was at the bottom. The choice was instead to fade into the background, into a list of names where she wouldn't be noticed. It was a sound plan, even if she really didn't think of it in that way.

The young girl slipped out of bed softly and made her way to her closet. She had formal robes and the like, but she wore a simple black outfit and that beige jacket. Simple, unassuming, and it kept eyes off her most of the time. It was simple and unnoteworthy, just like her. Her room was the same way; the Hyuuga were not particularly ostentatious people. They were supposed to enjoy simple beauty and elegance that could be found in subtle things. It was another thing Hinata was no good at. She liked colors, and vibrance, like the colorful flowers her mother used to grow. Hinata pressed flowers, when she could, and hung them. It was a small rebellion against her father and the clan, even if she did not consciously see it as that.

She just liked the flowers.

Hinata dressed quickly, pulling on the jacket last and slipping from her room in silence. She had two hours before she needed to head to the academy for her team placement. That was not something she was particularly looking forward to. They would notice her, then. She'd have more people to see how weak she was, and how much she did not live up to her family name. There would be no escaping the scrutiny when she was placed on a team that small, with a jounin teacher who would watch her every move. It made her nervous just thinking about it.

Hinata left for the family rock garden. It was not what she might have chosen, but she loved it nevertheless. It had been her favorite place, growing up. After her mother passed way, Hiashi had slowly changed it into its current form. But before, it had been filled with life and color. Just like her mother.

She missed her mother dearly.

Hinata shook those thoughts from her head. If she could not be good, the least she could do was not be a weepy and emotional little girl. She owed that to her family, at least. Her father had never said anything about that. He led by example in that way, remaining stoic and collected at all times. She should be more like him, and in that way she would. It was a small thing, barely enough to make up for her failings, but it was something still.

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she entered the garden. Even in it's current state she found it soothing. She would spend a few minutes here to clear her mind for the day of head. It was certain that she would need it.

Some distance off, in his own quarters, her father watched his daughter with the seemingly perpetual frown he always wore. It was a mask, a stoic face he'd put on long ago. He was hard on his daughters, far too hard, he knew. He was cold inside, ever since She had passed on. He did not think of her name anymore, nor her face. To remember only made the pain come back. Each time he saw Hinata, he saw a little bit of Her in the young girl. He pushed her hard to try and change that, to stamp out that little bit. It was a horrible thing to do and he knew he was a poor father for finding it so easy.

He loved his daughters, just as he had loved their mother. But when She had gone away, so had that warmth and vibrance, and to see it reflected in his daughter only made the hole in his heart ache once again. He told himself that they needed it, to have that weakness and sentimentality pushed out of them if they were to be good members of the Hyuuga house. He had grown weak and complacent and his constant pain was a reminder of that. That was what he told himself.

They needed it. It was for their own good, and the good of the clan. That was what he told himself, and that allowed him to continue. He, who prided himself on being able to read someone so well, to tell lies from truths in anyone, told him that. Thus, the one person whose lie he believed was his own.

Without a word he deactivated his byakugan and headed out of his room, robes flowing behind him. He had duties to attend to.

**Δ**

It was morning. Sort of. I mean, some people consider it still morning at ten AM, right? It IS AM, you know? That meant it's morning, regardless of the fact that the sun was up in the sky and everyone else was bustling about in their daily lives. None of that mattered to Shikamaru Nara, who was still pleasantly sleeping. He didn't get to sleep in very often, and he knew damn well he wouldn't have much of a chance to do it afterwards either. He wasn't going to ruin it by waking up early or something. He'd turned off his clock and alarm, he'd closed off his window blinds, and he'd locked his door too.

Waking up would be too troublesome. He only had to be at school just before lunch. No need to make a big fuss out of it.

**Ε**

It was nearly noon, and Naruto Namizake was in the right place at the wrong time. This was because he had to be at another right place at the right time and, as a result, had to instead be in his other right place at a slightly wrong time. This, of course, was of great surprise to the people at the right place. In this scene, the role of right place is being played by the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, the same place he went to eat for lunch every Wednesday he was in town (but then again, the same could be said about almost every other day, as well.) However, because he was previously committed to meeting with his new genin team, Naruto had to make this an early lunch.

So, there he sat, in the seat in which he always sat, along with his stack of bowls that seemed almost impossibly high sometimes. And, sure enough, one of his main lunch companions was sitting right next to him, for more reasons then the simple nostalgia and deliciousness of the ramen; Iruka Umino was the teacher of Naruto's new students, and he was rather eager to know what it was he was to expect from them. Well, that, and the fact that he had been able to spend so little time with Iruka as of late that he wanted any excuse to do so. He even offered to pay for lunch!

Although initially surprised by Naruto's early arrival (Iruka was far less regular with his ramen habits), old man Teuchi and his lovely daughter Ayame were more then happy to have their by-far best costumer there, and before the lunch rush even. While they did not understand where animosity that was given to Naruto came from, they did recognize it. And, while not condoning it, they understood that if Naruto was here now, rather then during the lunch rush, there would be a higher influx of customers and a fatter wallet by the end of the day. Even moreso given Naruto ordered half a dozen bowls over the course of the meal. Teuchi just took it as good luck and went with it.

Naruto, on the other hand, was doing another very rare thing even as he tore through his meal; he was planning ahead. Well, in a way he was. He had ask Iruka to join him because, honestly, he did want to speak with his old friend, but also because he knew quite well that Iruka was also the academy teacher to his new genin team. The young jounin wanted someone's take on the three fresh genin he'd been assigned, and given Iruka was both his friend, former teacher, and one of the few people Naruto trusted more then anyone else alongside his placement it seemed as though the heavens had smiled on him.

"Ok, Iruka-sensei, so... this Shikamaru kid," Naruto said between slurps, "I met his Dad once, laziest guy I've ever known. Tell me it isn't genetic."

"Sadly, seems it might be, Naruto-kun. He's easily the laziest kid in the class, even more then you were," replied the brown-haired chuunin with a soft chuckle. His last comment made Naruto scowl playfully, which only caused Iruka's smile to grow even wider, "Well it's true. He shows these flashes of brilliance, though. I'm wondering if he's hiding it and sometimes he's too lazy to do so, or if he simply figures that the few times he actually tries are actually the easier of his choices."

"Ok, so... might be a genius, but lazy. Great," Naruto said with a huff, "Alright, what about this Hinata girl?"

"She's... timid," Iruka said after a moment, "I mean, she never really stood out, but at the same time she's never really needed any help either. Her scores are almost down the middle, though it's dipped low a few times. Not too social, though, but that could just be her the way her family is. Hyuuga are fairly reserved people."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully and then sighed, "Yeah, great. Laziest kid and a shy, dark wierdo. Itachi sure does have a sense of humor, doesn't he?"

"Ah, but he did give you his brother, didn't he?" Iruka said with a grin, amused by Naruto's antics as well as his informality with the hokage. In almost anyone else he would have found that profoundly disrespectful, but Naruto had that special relationship that made it seem more normal. Naruto treated anyone who became close to him like family, and the fact that the hokage was his old teammate was simply an extension of that.

"Sasuke? Yeah, that's true I guess," Naruto replied, "Wonder how he holds up to his brother?"

"Well, I'd be careful about bringing that up, Naruto. Sasuke is... touchy. He can be a bit moody, but he's definitely got the most raw potential of the class. He also has something of a fanclub," Iruka said, causing Naruto to flinch. He remembered Itachi's old group. Not more then once had Naruto wondered if the real Uchiha kekkei genkai was some sort of permanent good-looks genjutsu or pheromone that made girls (and more then a few guys) go head over heels for them. "You lucked out, though. Hinata was about the only girl who didn't seem to be part of that. But then again, she didn't show much interest in anyone."

"Well, at least there is that," Naruto said. He sighed and set another bowl on his stack. It was about time to get going. He payed old man Teuchi and took off after a brief 'see ya' to Iruka, causing the chuunin to chuckle and wave as he watched the blond-haired jounin bounce off. He had come a long way from being the class clown, it seemed. Gone was the bright orange prankster, replaced with a fine ninja and a good man. Iruka was glad to have had a part in that.

He hoped that Naruto's new team would be glad too.

**Ζ**

"Disappearances amongst the Uchiha?" Kakashi repeated, single eye opening in mild shock. He'd heard rumors, but had mostly discounted them. For the hokage to come out and inform him of such things meant he should have really payed more attention, it seems.

"That's right. On the surface, they seem mostly unrelated. I had kept things quiet as to avoid a panic, but also because I was unable to discern any relation between them," Itachi said. He was sitting in his chair, and had called Kakashi in a few hours ago. He knew quite well he would be late and, given he knew why, the hokage did not begrudge him his time. Particularly given how he would be sent out very shortly. "It struck me then that perhaps that was my problem."

"Problem, Itachi-sama?" Kakashi said, adjusting himself slightly. He had taken his standard place, leaning against the wall near the door of the office. The elite jounin became suddenly much more aware of just why he had not been stuck with yet another genin team this time around,

"I was looking for a pattern, when I should have been looking for the absence of a pattern," Itachi continued, standing as he did. The white and red robes he wore rustled somewhat as he stood and took his own place at the window, staring out over the village he loved. "Not all the disappearances were men, nor women. They were mostly ninja, but some other merchants were taken. Of the ninja, not all had manifested their sharingan, though many had. Thus, the only true repeating elements was their clan, and that they all had gone out of the village. But they were not sent to the same areas at all."

Kakashi noted that Itachi always referred to the clan as just that, a clan. It wasn't his clan, or even 'the Uchiha.' The jounin wondered sometimes how he managed to be so impartial, but he clearly was so. And not in a forced way either, Kakashi had noted. Itachi did it without any complaint, though he didn't really complain about anything. But the truly telling thing was that he had managed to make it very clear that, when it came to dealing with issues or disagreements he was completely impartial. He had never been challenged on it either. After all, it is very hard to deny his impartiality given how he dealt with the budding Uchiha revolt.

"The details are in the file. Along with your mission," Itachi said finally, "I can trust you, Kakashi, and I think your sharingan might give you a greater chance of success here then anyone else. But it is the trust I value most. This mission is class S, and anything you discover is a secret of the same level."

Kakashi said nothing, simply taking the file and going off without a word. Itachi watched as he disappeared out of the window and into the village. While stoic on the outside, he found himself conflicted. He had not told Kakashi everything, nor did the file contain it all. But his suspicions, while often right, were not enough for him to go on. He needed proof.

"Danzou. What is your game?" He said softly before sitting back down, shuffling the thoughts out of his mind. He had work to do, and the village needed its hokage. He could not afford to be distracted.

**Ω**


	2. Part 1, Chapter 2

**Α**

Sasuke wasn't really sure which of the many eight million kamigami he had offended, or perhaps what other action he might have taken to earn a backlash of karma that he would be placed on a team such as this one. He watched them with carefully contained emotions, though this was not a far stretch from how he acted normally. Sasuke was not so cold as to be the eternal stoic, but his brother had rubbed off on him more then he realized sometimes, and even though he could not bring himself to be so totally like him, Sasuke was still more then a bit reserved.

But it was hard when he was placed on this team. Apparently, according to Iruka, it had something to do with grades. Sasuke had actually spoken up, catching him slightly off guard, and as a result he had learned that he had, as expected, ranked the highest in his class in ninjutsu with one tie for the top grade, and highest in both genjutsu and taijutsu. His initative score was not nearly as high, but high enough, though he noted quite well that Iruka did not mention the 'teamwork' score that he knew was quite low. It wasn't Sasuke's fault everyone else just slowed him down!

The Uchiha had bristled ever so slightly when he was told that he was the 'best male student' of this year's class, with an only barely noticeable emphasis on the indication of gender. He had gotten even worse after hearing that 'due to his varied skills, he'd been placed on a team with the two specific teammates because he filled a hole in the team perfectly.' To Sasuke, that meant one of two things: he has been picked to prop the other two up, or he had been stuck with another team because they had nowhere else to put him. And for the life of him, Sasuke wasn't really sure what which was worse.

Sasuke never let any of his thoughts escape, simply holding his hands steeped in front of him, elbows on his desk and a noncommittal expression on his face. Every so often his eyes would flick across the room, most often settling on one of the other two people in the room, or occasionally linger upon the window. Obsessionally he'd notice a small flash activity on the periphery of his vision, but it was always gone before he could bring it in focus. Likely some sort of animal, perhaps a bird.

The boy shuddered internally as at the thought of pigeons who seemed to be far too fond of his head.

But, regardless of that, something was moving around out there. Not that it mattered, stuck here in this classroom, waiting for far longer then he should have been. The new jounin-sensei of team seven should have been here almost an hour ago, and yet here they were, still waiting.

His eyes drifted the room again, settling this time on what apparently was the 'designated girl' on the team. Hinata, he thought her name was, and her eyes told him everything he needed to know about her clan. Hyuuga, perhaps the closest thing to a rival the Uchiha clan had, in a very loose sense. In truth, neither clan had much of a grudge against the other, and though they occasionally had run into issues with each other during the course of village activities it was hardly heated. The thoughts of the Hyuuga taking over the role as military police was one thing, but was less to do with the Hyuuga clan itself and more with the loss of power the Uchiha had faced. Not that they hadn't brought it on themselves, of course.

For their part, the Hyuuga were never antagonistic towards the Uchiha clan; loyalty and tradition were hallmarks of the clan. Sasuke was not exactly well versed in their exact customs, as he had never really had any reason to be. But he did know that they were considered one of the old guard, nearly as old as the Uchiha themselves, and that their loyalty was thought to be without question. His initial reaction was to think that the Uchiha had been the same, of course. Then again, now the Hyuuga had a perfect example of what happened when a clan let their pride get the best of them.

The girl was sitting in her traditional seat, but she might as well have been tucked away in the corner for all the attention she drew to herself. Sasuke couldn't help but shake the feel that the girl was intentionally keeping to her self somewhat like himself. She would scan the room every so often. Once he had caught her looking at him, causing her to quickly look away. Turning to stare out of the window after she looked away, he wasn't sure if she was somehow enamored with him as well. That had seemed to be the rule of the class, but he did know she was one who had never acted on it if she had. At least that was a positive about the team, he thought, he had gotten one of the few girls who hadn't been constantly annoying him or trying to hang off him or lay some sort of claim on him.

Still, she appeared more reserved due to shyness than any of the reasons he kept to himself, and given he'd only barely heard of her it was hard to think she was very much of a attention grabber. Hell, he must have spent a few years in the same class with her and he barely noticed her at all. That didn't bode well.

The other boy he knew more closely, though not as a friend. Instead, it was because unlike the girl, or himself, the boy did not shirk away from attention, so to speak. He certainly shirked, but it was more often then not his work, or paying attention in class. Iruka-sensei had been more then a vocal about 'Mr. Nara' and his habit of sleeping during lectures or slacking off during exercises. He seemed competent enough in the basic academy techniques, good enough to pass but not good enough to show off; he was average. Straight down the line, average. Average ability, average friends, average person. And he seemed so strangely okay with this. Sasuke wondered how anyone could do it.

Sasuke knew little about the Nara clan, really. Something about raising deer stuck in his mind, which seemed silly, but then again the Akimichi clan weren't exactly normal either so Sasuke had a fairly open mind when it came to clans. What he did know was, loosely, about their ability to manipulate shadows either due to bloodline or hiden-jutsu. All he knew was that the sharingan could not copy it, which was something that all members of the Uchiha clan were taught; perhaps not the most noble of subjects, but which jutsu you could and couldn't steal was just part of the culture of Uchiha.

Regardless, the kid wasn't very impressive, it seemed, and that only further aggravated Sasuke. More and more it began to look like he'd been stuck on a dead end team. He'd never catch up with his brother, not like this. Before he realized it he was flexing his hand into a fist, teeth grinding. He frowned as he caught himself, realizing he'd let go of his emotions. Noticing something out of the corner of his eye he snapped his head to the side, startling the pale-eyed girl and causing her to turn away. She was perceptive, it seemed. She'd noticed, even if she wasn't all that good at hiding it. He wasn't sure if that was worse. Having the skill, but only half way, or not having it at all.

A sudden thunk sound quickly drew the attention of both Sasuke and the girl, though the lazy Nara kid barely even seemed to look up at all. Sticking out of the teacher's desk was a strangely shaped kunai, with two prongs off the main handle that must have been for catching blades or making more savage wounds, Sasuke thought. A strange writing was on the handle, but before the Uchiha could get a good look at it yet another thunk, this one much louder, drew their attention.

"Ow, damn... still haven't got it right, I guess... better then last time, at least," the thunking object mumbled, revealing itself to be a fairly tall but young looking man who couldn't be much older then Itachi, Sasuke thought. The man was wearing the traditional green chuunin flak jacket over a fairly bright orange shirt, short-sleeved and with a line of black which ran up it's sides, across the shoulders and down the sleeves. His hitae-ite was black, and looked like it had been almost religiously polished, but was buffed down to avoid reflecting light that could give away a shinobi's position. He wore the same black pants that many other Konohagakure no Sato ninja wore, with a set of two kunai holsters, one on each side, and what looked like both a large rectangular equipment pouch and a smaller circular one on the rear of his belt as well. His face was still down, but Sasuke could see a head full of spiky and fairly long bright blond hair that he knew he should recognize from somewhere.

This was, despite the fairly strange entrance which involved appearing out of thin air a few feat above the ground and falling flat on his face, apparently a jounin. More importantly, it seemed to be 'their' jounin, which made Sasuke's already crestfallen spirit collapse even farther. This weird loser was their teacher?

It wasn't until the young man pushed himself up, grinning ear to ear and scratching the back of his head, that Sasuke actually realized exactly who this was. He knew the hair seemed familiar, but it was those face marks that gave it away. Three lines on each cheek, like an animals whiskers, made it beyond obvious. Sasuke had met Itachi's team before, although he was hardly familiar. But this man was damn near legendary, even if Sasuke didn't know why. All he knew was that on the still warm Iwagakure/Konohagakure front, this man was known as Konoha's One Man Army, the Red Demon of the Hidden Leaf himself.

This man was Naruto Namikaze.

Sasuke awaited his first words, wondering if perhaps his luck had turned around. Clearly a jounin of this note was worth something.

The man simply continued to smile for a moment before saying anything. And then, after the agonizing wait, and with Sasuke hanging on his every word, he spoke.

"Uh, hi," he said, waving slightly as he did.

Yet another thumping sound echoed in the room. This time, it was Sasuke's despairing face being introduced to his desk.

**Β**

Hinata was honestly not at all sure what she was supposed to think. She watched this newcomer with a small amount of trepidation, but at the same time felt a strange soothing in his blue eyes and energetic smile. Somewhere, in the inky blackness of her mind, those eyes and that smile called to her, as though she'd seen it before. But what stuck out most prominently was those strange facial markings, lines that radiated off his cheek like whiskers and only served to make his face seem even more friendly and jovial. Still, for the life of her, she had no idea why she would remember him at all.

Lost in her own mind, she suddenly realized he was staring at her now, still smiling but with a strange focus. She looked away, embarrassed, bringing a hand up to her mouth almost as a reflex. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him chuckle slightly and turn on to his next student. She swallowed hard, unsure of herself now. That wasn't particularly uncommon, of course. There was little she did not doubt herself on, and for good reason. She was hardly a paragon of ability, despite the drive and attention her father had lavished on her. But she had proven that a waste, and now she was here, a shinobi despite the danger, because she was weak.

But she didn't feel so weak when she looked at this man, and she wasn't sure why. She felt... safe.

Hinata jumped slightly when he began to speak.

"Alright! My first impression of this team is..." he began, scratching his chin in an exaggerated manner, drawing a smile from the Hyuuga girl.

"Well, that you guys need a ton of work!"

That caused the smile to drop. How obvious was it when even this person she'd, as far as she could remember, never even met notice that. But she was most shocked when she saw that it was not her he was looking at when he said it, but rather, of all people, Sasuke! And from the looks of it, the Uchiha had noticed it too, his face twisting into an angry snarl.

"You got a problem with me?" he barked, eyes widening in shock, apparently surprised with himself at his own outburst.

"Hmph, someone's got an attitude problem," the blond haired man said, folding his arms and puffing out his lower lip in yet another exaggerated gesture. Hinata couldn't keep herself from giggling slightly this time, then shrunk back as his attention turned to her. But, at the least, he was smiling.

"See? She's got the right attitude," he said with a grin. He turned around and began to try and pry the kunai out of the desk, grunting slightly as he did.

"Dammit, why do I always throw them so damn hard."

It took a moment for him to wrench the throwing blade from the wood, and Hinata could have swore him saying something about hoping that Iruka-sensei didn't get too mad at him chipping the teacher's desk. He spun around, that wide and energetic smile back, "Alright, kids, to the roof!"

He was at the door before she could even see, causing her to catch her breath in surprise. He was fast. Very, very fast. She shook herself from her reverie and slipped out of her seat, heading for the door. Sasuke beat her there, and she wondered if that was intentional or simply a force of habit, while the other teammate, who she thought was named Shikamaru, took up the rear, hands in his pockets. Their new teacher simply smiled, slid open the door, and then chuckled.

"See you there."

And then he was gone, leaving three shocked genin to recompose themselves and head up for the roof in silence.

**Γ**

"So," Naruto began, clasping his hands together, "first things first. I figure that we're all a bit unfamiliar, so we should know each other if we're going to be a team, right?"

The three genin simply stared at him with an assortment of expressions. Sasuke was staring at him with a look that made it seem as though he really wasn't sure what to think of his new teacher, torn between a strange respect and near despair. Hinata looked as though she was looking at someone she knew was important for a reason other then being her new sensei, but could not grasp exactly what that was. And Shikamaru? Well, he just seemed bored and perhaps somewhat unhappy their teacher seemed so very excitable. That was just too troublesome.

"So, who wants to introduce themselves first? You know, name, likes and dislikes, hobbies and dreams, that sort of stuff!"

None of the three replied, causing Naruto to frown slightly and sigh, "Oh come on guys, don't all jump up at once. look, I'll even go first!"

He brought his hand up to his chin, once again assuming his slightly comical thinking expression.

"Well, my name is Naruto Namikaze. I like ramen, training, and spending time with friends. I dislike the time it takes to make instant ramen, people who disrespect me and vegetables," he said, accenting the last thing by sticking his tongue out slightly in disgust. The action got an incredulous look from Sasuke, but a giggle from Hinata, which made the blond-haired jounin grin.

"My hobby is training hard, and, uh... gardening," he continued, skimming somewhat quickly over the last part, "And my dream? To be the greatest shinobi in history, that is my dream!"

His last proclamation had his genin students staring again, this time with more similar expressions of mild disbelief. To Naruto's credit, he simply scratched his cheek slightly and chuckled, "Well, it is. Now, your turns starting with- ah- you!"

The jounin's finger fell on Hinata, causing her to blush slightly. She gulped slightly, then shook herself before speaking.

"I, uh... my name is Hinata Hyuuga. I like... flowers and, um... I dislike people who look down on me. My hobby is p-pressing flowers, and my dream... my dream is to make my family proud of me," she finished, though due to small stops and stutters it took half again as much time as it should have. She looked down with red cheeks, but Naruto simple smiled and nodded.

"A good dream," Naruto said with a nod, causing Hinata to darken ever so slightly. The jounin's face furrowed in concern for a moment as he saw, "Uh, are you alright? You look a bit red."

That earned a scoffing chuckle from Sasuke, which in turn earned a sudden glare from Naruto, "Alright, then. You're next."

Sasuke folded his hands in front of him and sighed, "Fine. My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't particularly like many things but I dislike being coddled or treated inferior. My 'hobby' is to train, and my dream is... to get out of a certain someone's shadow."

Surprisingly, Naruto smiled at that, causing Sasuke's brow to furrow. But before the Uchiha could say anything Naruto had turned to the third student, who still looked incredibly bored by this all.

"Alright then, your turn," Naruto said, nodding slightly in the boy's direction. The pony-tailed boy let out a slightly grumble before complying.

"My name is Shikamaru Nara. I like sleeping, napping, and taking breaks. I dislike having to do lots of work, or people who bother me while I'm resting. My hobby is cloud watching, and my dream? My dream is to marry a regular girl who isn't too ugly and not too pretty. Have two children, first a girl, then a boy. Retire after my daughter is married and my son becomes a successful ninja, and spend the rest of my life playing Shogi or Go. Then die of old age before my wife."

Naruto stared incredulously at him for a moment, as if his dream was somehow to conquer the world or something.

"A very... precise dream, I guess."

Shikamaru just grunted and went back to being bored while their jounin nodded thoughtfully and brought his hand back up to his chin.

"Alright!" he said suddenly, startling the three young genin. He seemed not to notice, continuing right away, "Here is the deal! I think that you've all got great dreams, and I'd like to help each and every one of you achieve them! I promise you that I'll do anything in my power help you achieve your dreams. Believe it! I never go back on my word, because that's my nindou, my ninja way! In return, I want you to help me with my dream too. Seem fair?"

The three genin were staring at him again, unable to say anything really. He took their silence as agreement, and clapped his hands together.

"Great! Now, you three take the rest of the day off, and makes sure you don't strain yourself. You're going to need a ton of energy for tomorrow."

After a moment of silence, it was Hinata who spoke up, which brought a small smile to the jounin's face.

"Um, Namikaze-sensei? W-what is going on tomorrow?" she asked meekly, barely looked up enough to see him. Naruto grinned deviously at his three new students in return.

"Tomorrow? Tomorrow is the test to see what you're made of. Be at the third training ground at eight AM sharp," he said, earning a small groan from Shikamaru. He ignored it, and then suddenly leaped from the roof.

"Don't be late!" he shouted as he disappeared into the distance, leaving three still fairly bewildered genin. They looked at each other, still at a loss for words, before shrugging and heading their way out, each lost in their own thoughts on what happened, and what tomorrow might hold.

**Δ**

There was no sound as Kakashi touched down, in the empty forest clearing, single eye flicking around with preternatural speed. The forest seemed peaceful and undisturbed, as though it hadn't been disturbed by humans in a long time. Most of the forest was like that, and to most people they'd find this single clearing not so different then any of the dozens of others that the Konoha-nin had passed in last few hours. But, to trained eyes it was a goldmine. Subtle marks and signs of conflict, hidden from all others, told Kakashi a story. But it was a story he did not want to hear.

There had been a fight, of a sort. It was hardly a fight at all, given how exceptionally one-sided it seemed. The opponent, no, wait, two opponents were hardly an even fight even for this experienced team. They had attacked a team of Konoha-nin, one jounin and three chuunin all in all, two of which had been Uchiha. But their sharingan had not, apparently, saved them at all. Far from it, indeed. They were both missing, with little evidence except for these exceptionally cold markings that told Kakashi so very much and so very little. The opponents were masters of hiding, it seemed, which made since given there hadn't been a single bit of real evidence to their abilities other then the level of teams they had been able to take on.

ANBU level ninja had disappeared the same as genin, or even untrained merchants, which told Kakashi he was dealing with something that even he might not be able to take on directly, and that made him more then a little bit concerned. He pushed off again, leaving the scene behind. There was nothing more to learn there, no more then he'd known from the half a dozen other sites he'd visited across Fire Country. And he was barely any closer then he was when he began.

He frowned beneath his mask and pushed on. This was going to be harder then he'd predicted.

**Ε**

Shikamaru yawned heavily as he made his way off from the academy and towards his favorite hill. He had stuffed his hands in his pockets, slouching lazily as he strolled along. But while he seemed to be simply leisurely strolling on the outside, his mind was abuzz with the days events, and on the fairly peculiar man that was, apparently, his new jounin sensei.

The Nara boy hadn't really worried too much about who his sensei would be, though he had to admit he was slightly partial to Asuma Sarutobi. The man had introduced him to a fair number of interesting games, apparently simply because he felt the kid was smart and needed an opponent. Shikamaru found that surprising, given how extremely bad Asuma was at shogi, and even worse at go. The boy thought he should have a ton of opponents who wanted an easy win. But, regardless of that, despite how horrible he was at shogi, Asuma still played Shikamaru some times. Not that it ever really did him much good.

He had been surprised by his team as well, as well as a mixture of disappointment and relief; he'd expected to be placed on the next generation of his father's legendary Ino-Shika-Cho trio, which meant that while he'd have gotten to be on a team with his best friend, Chouji, he'd have had to put up with that exceptionally annoying Ino Yamanaka. He'd known Ino for quite some time, a logical thing given how close their father's were. He was sure that their father's would have requested their placement together, too, which made this team something of a surprise.

Apparently that request had been denied.

He moved through the town, drawing as little attention to himself as possible. A few of the shopkeepers would wave, usually because they had some business with his family and their deer farms, but for the most part it was a leisurely stroll. The streets weren't particularly crowded, though they were busy this time of day. Shikamaru estimated it must be around one or two, given the position of the sun in the sky, which was usually the high point of activity. Luckily, Konohagakure no Sato was right at the sweet spot when it came to population; they tended to be large without being crowded, busy without being stuffy. It was a good village.

A merchant tried to wave him down and get him to buy some produce, but Shikamaru wasn't really in the mood. He stopped for a moment after passing a small shop, however, and let a small sigh escape his lips as he entered it. A few moments later he excited with an extra large bag of potato chips, Chouji's favorite. Shikamaru knew he'd find his friend at the hill, and he knew he'd be hungry. Chouji was always hungry. Was part of his charm, Shikamaru supposed; Chouji was Chouji. He wasn't complicated, and he wore his heart on his sleeve. He was a good friend, and Shikamaru was glad to have him. It was a shame, honestly, that they weren't on the same team. Their talents might actually have meshed quite well together.

As he walked through, the Nara began to ponder his new sensei again. He knew he had heard the name Namikaze before, and it came to him in the metaphorical flash; Minato Namikaze had been a war hero, going by the name of Konoha's Yellow Flash during the war. Later, he had given up his life to seal away the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that had attacked Konoha nearly two decades ago. It was all in their history books, though Shikamaru had barely read those, but Iruka-sensei had spoken of him once as well. Maybe more times, but Shikamaru might have been sleeping during it. He hadn't mentioned a relative however. Given the apparent ages, it seemed that this Naruto was his son.

Shikamaru wasn't really sure why Minato was called the Yellow Flash, of course, but he guessed it had something to do with speed, and that rather bright blond hair Namikaze-sensei sported. Maybe that, and the speed, ran in the family; Naruto did seem fairly fast. And he'd appeared out of nowhere, even if it was just to fall flat on his face.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" shouted someone, followed by a low yelping bark which told Shikamaru exactly who it was. Kiba Inuzuka was a fellow genin from his class, and from the looks of pure glee on his face Shikamaru had to conclude he was more then happy with his team placement. The wild-haired dog shinobi jogged up with his ever present canine partner, Akamaru, close behind.

"Kiba. You seem happy," Shikamaru said, perhaps with even less enthusiasm then he'd intended. Kiba simply ignored it, or perhaps simply didn't notice.

"You bet I'm happy! I just got done with my first team meeting and boy did I score big time!" he said, pumping his arm up in excitement, "My new jounin sensei is a total babe, and she wears this outfit that shows off her body just perfectly!"

Shikamaru was fundamentally unsurprised by Kiba's antics; he had a bad habit of thinking more like a dog then a human sometimes, giving in to crazy instincts instead of actually thinking things through. He had heard that ran in the family, though, so perhaps it was actually genetic. Or at least encouraged in the Inuzuka clan. Or maybe they just spent way too much time with dogs.

"Plus, I got the hottest girl in class too, and she thinks Akamaru is really cute!" Kiba continued, Akamaru barking happily when he was mentioned. "She told me that I reminded her of a dog too, isn't that awesome?"

Shikamaru simply stared at him, unsure if he should burst the poor boys bubble or simply let him go on in his little illusory world. A mischievous grin crossed his face. The Nara knew quite well who he was talking about, and he knew that Ino was not complimenting when he said that. But, he might be able to have some fun with this.

"Yeah, you should say you think she does too next time you see her," Shikamaru said with a grin. He quickly moved to change the subject, not wanting Kiba to think about that too much. "So, who else is on your team?"

"Huh, oh, that weird kid that's always smiling, entered a few years back but never really talked to anyone. Sai, he said his name was," Kiba said with a frown, "He's a jerk too. Called me a 'dickless pansy.' Almost clobbered him until Kurenai-sensei stepped in. Of course, he calls the girls 'gorgeous' and that seems to make at least Ino all giddy."

The dog-nin continued to grumble. Shikamaru simply frowned. He knew of Sai, if only because of how much he stood out. He seemed so very out of place some times, as if he was just learning how to act. He tended to speak it a very polite manner, but would insult you straight to your face without a second thought. He didn't have many friends, tending to be a loner most of the time. Shikamaru wondered what the boy's grades were like, or what niche he was exactly intended to fill on the team.

Something always put Shikamaru off about that Sai kid. He was... troublesome.

Kiba walked along with Shikamaru, talking about random things, most of which he didn't even bother to listen to. Kiba seemed to be in his own world, and was occupied at least. Shikamaru led them towards his hill, knowing Chouji would be there, and with a strange eagerness to hear how he'd faired in his team placement as well.

**Ζ**

Atop the hokage monument a single figure sat, leaning back with his arms behind him and staring off out over his beloved home town. Naruto Namikaze loved the sunsets over the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He had spent much of his youth outside of Konoha, having graduated from the ninja academy when he was only seven years old, four years after he'd had a very angry demon sealed into his body. There hadn't been much time to appreciate his home village's skyline, what with the constant training, and, later, the constant fighting for survival. But eventually it had become his habit to climb to the very top of the monument and rest atop its head, looking out across the village as the sun fell. It was a good place to think, and just as good of a place to not think at all. Naruto did a fair bit of both, in their own times.

Right now, he was thinking. He sat atop the head of the godaime hokage. At first it had been somewhat odd to sit atop the visage of his old teammate and by far closest friend, but eventually it became something of a running joke between them. Itachi could be a very cold person, sometimes, but Naruto always saw another side of him. That small happy part that he kept tightly in control. They had both seen many things in their lives, been through more then people their age should ever have had to. For Naruto, he found refuge in his cheerfulness and energetic lifestyle. For Itachi, it was the opposite; reserved and stoic. But together, they became something else in the way only old teammates could.

They were the last of their team, too. Their jounin-sensei had died some time after they had been promoted to chuunin, while their third teammate had died during the exam's final. They didn't talk about her much anymore; too much pain there, and too much left unsaid. Itachi had moved on better then Naruto had; the hokage had a discrete lover whom he met with fairly often, choosing to keep the relationship private. Naruto's parents had done the same, in fact.

But Naruto still hadn't dated much, at least not seriously. When called on it, he would simply say he was a busy person and hadn't time for that. Itachi was the only one who he would not say that too, but then again Itachi had only brought it up once. That talk had tossed too many things up in the air that had taken far too long to clear, though afterward it seemed to be a far less taboo subject. Now, they joked about it, but Naruto knew there was a subtle point his old friend was making.

He sometimes wondered if his old friend had a very cruel sense of humor, reinforced by the three genin he'd assigned him.

She looked just like her too...

"Some day, someone is going to set a trap for you here. You're far too predictable," Itachi said suddenly, simply appearing next to Naruto without preamble. The blond haired ninja didn't even look up, simply grinning slightly as his friend showed up.

"Yeah, like they'd be able to catch me," he said with a laugh. Itachi smiled.

"Yes, wouldn't that be a sight to see. Horde of enemy ninjas chasing you across the rooftops, barely keeping up."

"Didn't we do that in Kumogakure once?" the hokage said with a grin. This earned a look from Naruto, who stared back with a smile and a chuckle.

"With the oversized straw hats?"

"And the daughter of the ANBU chief?"

"The pigeon who never saw it coming."

"'No, no, not the hair! Not the hair!'" they both finished, laughing heartily afterword. It would be a few minutes before they settled back down. Itachi joined him, resting back against the still warm stone.

"So, how is your new team?" he asked with a knowing smile, earning a snort from his old friend.

"You know how to pick them, don't you?" Naruto said, and then sighed, "They remind me of us. Back then, I mean."

"You don't say," was all the hokage said in reply, blank expression returning to his face. They sat in silence for some time, simply watching as the sun set over the village and the stars took their place in the night sky. Itachi stared at the moon, a strange look that Naruto had noticed more then once since he'd become the hokage. He had always been meaning to ask about that, but never seemed to find the time. Itachi always seemed to speak right before he was going to. Now seemed as good a time as any. Naruto opened his mouth to ask.

"She would have picked you," Itachi said suddenly, staring off into the distance. Naruto was caught off guard, unable to respond before Itachi turned to him with a sad smile and continued, "She really loved you. Didn't take my sharingan to see that."

Naruto stared at Itachi for a long time before sighing. He looked off, "You think so?"

"I'd bet my hat on it."

"Bite your tongue!" Naruto snapped, causing Itachi to flinch slightly, unsure of how to respond. He was caught off guard when his old friend began to laugh, "That hat is awesome."

It was Itachi's turn to be silent, waiting a long moment before breaking into another round of laughter. It was a sound that hadn't been heard so often in a long time. Naruto always seemed to bring it out in him.

"You need to date more," Itachi said suddenly, causing Naruto to scowl slightly in response.

"Not this again," he said, shaking his head, "look, I'll stop you here. Fine, I'll find a date. When I find someone, alright? Stop prodding. I promise I'll go on one within a few months."

"A month."

"Fine! A month, jeez, you slave-driving bastard. Assign me this fixer-upper of a team and then start dictating my love life. Why don't you just start directing my dietary habits too, while you're at it?" Naruto said with a false pout, earning a smile from his friend.

"Maybe I should," was all Itachi said. And then they sat, not bothering to think anymore, and simply enjoyed the silence and the company.

**Ω**


	3. Part 1, Chapter 3

**Α**

Naruto twirled one of his father's unique kunai around his forefinger for a moment, azure eyes locked on the target. He moved with preternatural speed, flicking the kunai at top speed, and then began to call upon the power that his father had developed. And then he was gone, without sound or warning, pulled through the very fabric of the world. And then he slammed face first into a the tree trunk he'd thrown the kunai at.

Hard.

The stars were so pretty, so very pretty.

One of his clones sighed and rubbed its temples, perched up in the foliage of one of the many trees that surrounded the designated training ground, set of slim binoculars hanging from his neck. He had arrived fairly early, far earlier than his new students. He had been in such a rush to get there that he had totally failed to account for time and ended up simply bored out of his mind as he waited. Eventually, he decided to try his hand at some training. After all, he wasn't going to become the Second Yellow Flash unless he could actually pull off the move that performed the 'flashing.'

Which sounded far better in Naruto's head.

It hadn't actually been all that hard to learn the technique either, piecing together things based upon the notes his father had left behind and with a bit of assistance from Kakashi-san as well. The legendary Copy-Nin had been one of Minato's genin, and although he had never apparently got the full jist of the technique he did have a very useful set of first-hand knowledge that assisted Naruto in figuring it out for himself. The young Namikaze was quite glad he'd met Kakashi during his first deployment, and he had worked with him quite often after his team 'dissolved' and Naruto became a tokubetsu jounin attaché.

And, of course, good ol' ero-sennin had helped too in figuring out how to put together an appropriately keyed jutsu-shiki, or technique formula, that responded to Naruto. The principles behind fuuinjutsu came strangely easily to Naruto, perhaps because despite his challenges with genjutsu and even some lower-level ninjutsu, fuuinjutsu was far more easy to control: the seal itself took the right amount of chakra, which was barely a drop in the bucket for Naruto and required no real active effort for control. It was if they had designed fuuinjutsu just for him!

With this new knowledge, Naruto had reassembled his father's signature technique and more or less emulated it. The genius of the Hiraishin no Jutsu was that it was deceptively simple: sure, it required an extreme grasp of sealing techniques and a good reservoir of chakra, but in truth it had a near zero actual drain on the user; the technique was a sort of 'closed circuit' and the chakra used to perform it was almost instantly returned. Of course, even with all this knowledge, Naruto was still having problems.

Obviously.

He found out quickly that being catapulted across time and space tended to make you quite disoriented.

So, he was practicing it whenever he got the chance. He'd set up a clone to watch for his genin students and got to work. Dozens of tree slams later, that clone was beginning to get a headache just watching. Naruto had tried using clones for a few times before, but the sudden knowledge of many bursts of vertigo and impacts made his head hurt more then it ever had before, and puke up all of the seven bowls of ramen he'd had for lunch that day.

It was totally against his usual training style, something that made him perhaps the, relatively, hardest working and shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. If you counted each clone, he could train for hundreds of hours in just one day. To anyone without a massive chakra reserve like his this was impossible, and even then it was often quite painful and possibly dangerous. But it hadn't really been until he'd tried using it to learn the Hiraishin that he really realized just how bad that could be.

So now he just trained on his own and had clones watch him from various angles, getting their input on things as they dispelled. It wasn't as good, but he was still proud of himself for figuring out at least a small fix.

He pushed himself off the ground and shook his head to clear it, sighing heavily. Another failure. The half a dozen clones he'd had watching dispelled, leaving just the one he'd set up to watch for his team.

"So, any sign of them?" Naruto asked... himself. The clone shook his head.

"No, nothing just ye- oh, wait! There they are! Well, one of them, at least."

Naruto simply grinned as he heard that.

"And now we see how long it takes 'em."

**Β**

He was late. Again.

Sasuke was quite unhappy at this fact. He had arrived early, as was his way, and took to leaning against one of three wooden training logs at the center of the field. For a long time he wondered if perhaps he should get up and do something, but had found he lacked the drive, and didn't want to exert himself too much. Naruto had said that he was going to push them hard, and Sasuke wanted to be ready for whatever the jounin had up his sleeve.

If he wasn't just bluffing. Sasuke couldn't really wrap his head around Naruto. The man was not some unknown quantity; he was the hokage's old teammate and a war hero, known for his actions on the Earth Country front. He was the son of another war hero, though Sasuke was a little bit iffy on the details of him. He thought his name was Minato, or something along those lines, and that he had been known as the Yellow Flash for some reason. It was hard to say how names got started; Naruto was supposedly 'Konoha's One-Man Army' but that told Sasuke very little about his actual capabilities.

So far, the man had been somewhat peculiar, to be a bit generous. He was fast, that much was sure. Sasuke could envy that speed and sorely wished he had awoken his sharingan already so he could see how he was doing it. He sighed and adjusted himself against the training log, attempting to get more comfortable as he waited. Slowly, he began to regret showing up early after all, and honestly he couldn't really remember why he had. It was nice to get out of the house, at least. But that thought brought a frown to his face. He hadn't realized how much he did enjoy spending away from the house, nowadays.

A sudden flash of insight and realization came over him and made his scowl deepen. It was his father, and that memorial, and all the other thoughts which sprung up when he looked at just about anything in his home. It wasn't fair for his home to be so cursed. Or maybe it was him who was cursed; cursed to think far too much about far to many things. They said curiosity killed the cat, but Sasuke was wondered if the reason was that it died from depression or perhaps that it threw itself off a cliff.

Not that Sasuke was seriously entertaining ideas of either. It was just a funny thought. Morbid, but funny. He'd keep that one to himself, others might not appreciate it as much. Not that he really told anyone anything else anyway. Made things easier that way.

The Uchiha boy looked up suddenly, proving his top scores right. His ears twitched slightly as he heard movement, identifying a young and half-shuffling female, from the sounds of it. Sasuke sighed as he watched Hinata make her way over towards him mostly in silence. She was wearing that baggy beige jacket again, despite the somewhat warm weather, but at least it wasn't the trench coat the Shino kid wore all the time.

Sasuke wasn't really sure which of his teammates he loathed more. On one hand, Hinata was so insular that he was fairly certain she was going to collapse in on herself at some point and form some sort of singularity from an unstable level of awkwardness and embarrassment. And that was how the world was going to end, crushed down to nothingness by sheer shyness. He was certain that if Hinata knew about this she'd be painfully embarrassed and try to apologize profusely. It hurt Sasuke's brain to think about, let alone comprehend; the armageddon would be embarrassed.

On the other hand, Shikamaru's sheer lack of drive, motivation, or anything resembling a spine tended to inspire something akin to actual anger in the young Uchiha. Mainly because the Uchiha, despite having very little of anything even resembling concern for his classmates, noticed small flashes of intelligence behind the Nara boy's lackadaisical behavior. If he would just try he might amount to something. Or maybe it was that Shikamaru was able to not try, something Sasuke couldn't bring himself to do. Whatever the case, he was a lazy bastard, and that was not something Sasuke appreciated, particularly not in a teammate.

Sasuke said nothing as the Hyuuga girl made her way towards him, hiding himself behind one of the pillars at the end of the row. He let out a disapproving huff and turned back away, staring off into the sky. He really hoped the Naruto showed up soon. He was starting to get bored.

**Γ**

Shikamaru stared up at the sky, slightly disgruntled at how clear it seemed. Not that it mattered, he supposed; the clearing was poor for cloud watching anyway. Too low, too many trees. Hard to really see the sky even if there had been clouds to watch. But the young Nara was not so lucky. He knew it was too good to be true that his new jounin was apparently a fairly late comer. That suited Shikamaru just fine, but he had a bad feeling it was taking up a massive amount of his luck allotment, and as a result he was cursed with a perfectly clear and blue sky today. All that time, and nothing to watch.

He sighed and pushed himself up slightly, looking over at his new genin teammates. That was another part of his luck. He'd gotten the shyest girl in the class, which he supposed was better then the alternative, but also made for poor conversation. She, of course, seemed like a regular chatterbox compared to his other teammate. Sasuke Uchiha was not what anyone could describe as sociable, and when he did demean himself enough to speak with someone such as Shikamaru it was rarely anything good. He rolled back over onto the ground and staring up at the sky. At least it was a pretty shade of blue.

"Our new teacher seems to be a bit of a scatterbrain."

It took a moment for Shikamaru's brain to register that someone was talking to him, and yet another moment for him to realize who was talking to him. His head rolled over, eyes locking on the same guy he never would have thought was going to speak. Apparently he'd underestimated Sasukes's ability to withstand intense boredom.

"Uh, sure," Shikamaru replied, pausing a moment before realizing Sasuke was expecting a greater response, "But that suits me just fine, I think."

Sasuke just scoffed, but Shikamaru really didn't care.

"Hey, like I said, I'm not really interested in spending my days running around and risking my life," he continued. "I mean, I'm okay with it sometimes, but I don't need to go out and chase it down. That's far too troublesome."

Sasuke went silent again, not that Shikamaru really cared. He was, however, surprised when not a few moments later Sasuke was talking again.

"I need to get stronger, and so do you. You're going to have a hard time being so lazy if you're not strong enough to get done things easily," he said. Sasuke realized that Shikamaru had propped himself up and was staring at him now.

"What?" Sasuke asked, causing Shikamaru to do a slight snorting scoff.

"It's just that you bring up a point that is far too troublesome to ignore, and I never expected to hear it from you," Shikamaru said with a chuckle.

"You're gonna need to really come out of your shell if you plan on getting stronger too," he said, but Sasuke realized he was no longer looking at him, but instead had turned his gaze to Hinata. Sasuke turned to look at her, something he hadn't really done since she showed up.

"Yes," she said lightly, causing a small bit of surprise in the young Uchiha and Nara boys. She seemed less shy now, replacing it with a small bit of dejection. But it was a start, Sasuke supposed.

"I- I would like to do that, I suppose," she continued with some vigor. Shikamaru grinned again. She caught sight of it and looked away, blushing and returning to her regular shy self. Sasuke frowned, but shook it off and turned back to Shikamaru.

"Not that it matters, I guess, with a jounin like ours," he said. Shikamaru let out a slight chuckle, causing Sasuke to look at him in confusion. What was so funny?

"I think he's more then meets the eye," Shikamaru said enigmatically; Sasuke just raised an eyebrow. "It'll be troublesome. You'll see."

**Δ**

"Huh, not as long as I expected," the real Naruto said. He stood up from his crouch and grinned in amusement. They hadn't taken so long to start talking, at least no the hours or so he had been expecting. Apparently he'd underestimated his new team, a fact for which he was more then a bit pleased; better to underestimate them and be surprised then overestimate them and be disappointed.

"Hah, that means you owe me! Fifty Ryou!" one of his clones exclaimed with a foxy grin. Yet another clone scowled in response.

"Oh, come on, I wasn't being serious!"

The first shook his fist angrily at the second, clearly incensed by the dismissal.

"No way, man! A deal is a dea-"

He had not chance to finish the thought as a third clone delivered a strong fist to both of the other clones heads. The third clone sighed and shook his head as the other two clones dispersed into puffs of smoke, showing clear amusement at their peculiar antics.

"Idiots," was all he said before dispelling himself. This left the original Naruto to simply stare at the place they'd been and try to grasp the concept of his clones betting between themselves. It took him a few minutes, but he shook himself out of it and leaped off to go meet with his team.

Silly, stupid clones.

**Ε**

Sasuke collapsed onto his bed face first, unable to muster even the painful groan his body desired. He had thought he knew what it meant to be tired and sore. More than once he had collapsed from exhaustion due to too much time training, only to wake up in his bed, brought home silently by his elder brother. Sasuke always felt he had to go out and work twice as hard after those times, even though he never really realized it as a conscious thing. He might have now, had he not been more exhausted then any of those times.

Honestly, he was shocked he was even conscious still, given how hard their teacher had pushed them. Naruto-sensei had showed up late, but he'd made up for lost time in short order. They ran through a number of drills dozens upon dozens of times, things that seemed so very simple for him. But they had to run them as a team. Sasuke tried to finish as fast as possible, but the other two failed miserably at keeping up with him, a fact that threw off the entire set up. Sensei had not looked happy.

That made Sasuke well up with a sort of anger; what reason did Naruto have to be angry at Sasuke? He was the best in so many areas that made a ninja: his ninjutsu was comparable to that of a chuunin, genjutsu and taijutsu almost that as well. What was more, he was getting better every day; faster, stronger, and more adept. But he was still so far behind Itachi that he wondered if he'd ever reach him.

Thoughts of such things bring Naruto's words back to him. From what Sasuke had seen, Naruto was a hidden gem, of sorts; he'd demonstrated skills far above what his first impression had given off. Shikamaru himself seemed somewhat different then his first impression had given off; lazy, sure, but he was observant and seemed to be hiding more then he let on about his abilities. Sasuke mused that he wasn't quite up to, well, _him_, per se, but at the least he could be brought up to some sort of grade. His other teammate, on the other hand...

Something told him that Hinata had very few surprises. Putting up with her was going to be the low point of his career.

And with that thought, he finally let himself fade into a very deep sleep, the kind one only gets when everything you have is spent and gone. It was a good sleep, one without dreams, or at least dreams he would remember. This was good. Sasuke hated dreams.

**Ζ**

Kakashi made no noise as he stepped through the site of yet another attack; this one was at the crossroads of one of the many trails and roads that led between Konoha and the outside word, specifically to the small country known as the Land of Rice Fields, a minor and mostly agricultural country who had the good fortune of being simply too unimportant to invade, escaping the fate of smaller nations such as the Land of Whirlpools, precisely because unlike that lost nation, it had no hidden village of shinobi. That said, it still made a modest profit in the sale of foodstuffs and did trade with Konoha as a result.

The Uchiha Clan merchants had begun to take the country as a vested interest not long before the plot to overthrow the Sandaime Hokage was revealed. Seen simply as a minor economic venture at first, this investment became a far more important investment; stripped of much of their original status and wealth, the clan needed a way to start the slow climb back upwards, and the new leaders of the clan had chosen the Land of Rice Fields as it. As a result, ninja from the clan often were given priority escorting Uchiha merchants to and from the land, usually a low-level task but one that merchants usually explicitly asked for. When available, the hokage had approved the request for having little reason to deny it, though he kept a close eye to make sure there was no resurgence of seditious organization amongst his own clan.

Now, however, it seemed that this had begun to backfire. Kakashi had begun to focus his investigation on these trails more then the other attacks due to the ever so slightly higher volume of attacks that had occurred. Some might not have caught the pattern, but Kakashi was not some, he was the best at his job. And because he was the best, he knew he'd come as close to a jackpot with this find; it was older then the others, sloppier and, despite its age, held more information then any attack he'd found yet.

It had been an ambush. The team had consisted of two Uchiha genin and one Uchiha jounin, as well as a third non-Uchiha genin. It was their first mission outside of Konohagakure, an easy escort job. Kakashi shook his head at the irony; at least they hadn't been deceived by the contractor, it seemed. Kakashi would have run someone through if they'd done that to a team of his. The merchant was affiliated with the Uchiha's Land of Rice Fields merchant cartel, and they'd died almost instantly from the attack. The first shinobi casualty has been one of the Uchiha genin, followed by the other and then the non-Uchiha genin. Kakashi's eyes swept over the area, forming a full picture of the 'fight' in his mind.

The last of the team, the jounin herself, had managed to run. Kakashi followed the scrambling trail, now cold to all but his precise sharingan eye. He followed it all the way to the point where she'd been chased down and killed, against the trunk of a large tree. And it was here that he found the first truly concrete piece of evidence.

A single word etched into the tree, unperceptive to anything but another sharingan. The mark was Hebi. Snake.

**Η**

She was pushing herself hard, but it was getting away bit by bit. She felt her thighs and chest burn as she pushed off yet another tree, throwing herself forward and after the target. But it was pulling ahead; how could it be so fast? Or was it simply that she was too slow, too poorly skilled to really keep pace with even this. Her legs began to falter and shake, speed dropping quickly. The others were pulling ahead even worse now, but without her in the middle to back them up, the target could easily evade them. The mission was going to be a failure because of her.

"Hinata," a voice blared into her ear, causing both a surge of energy to her legs and a surge of heat to her face, "Come on now! You can do this, I know you can! Don't let me down!"

The Hyuuga pushed off the branch, rapidly catching up with her teammates and closing in on the annoying pet who'd escaped yet again from the clutches of some rich old lady. She felt somewhat bad for the poor thing, but the mission was the mission. Plus, at least it was not wanting for food. How it managed to be so fat and so fast she'd never understand.

**Θ**

Naruto took the binoculars down from his eyes, a smile crossing his face as he saw Hinata push and catch up with the others, filling up the formation as the trio closed in for the kill. Metaphorically, of course. He hoped. This was the fifth time they'd had to catch the cat, and he knew their patience was growing a little thin. Still, he knew Hinata wouldn't, and Shikamaru was far to lazy. Sasuke was a bit odd at times, keeping his temper back only barely at times, but even he could keep it in for this; if nothing more, his desire to outdo his brother kept that under control.

That said, he was only somewhat happy with the progress his team had been making; Shikamaru was essentially the same as always; brilliant and lazy. He'd been quick to formulate plans that made the entire team do the least amount of work, though he'd often save the most leisurely of jobs for himself. If he'd been improving, he was doing a damn good job of hiding it. On the other hand, Sasuke seemed to be going out of his way to push himself and show that he was. Consciously or unconsciously, he was trying to impress his teacher, even if he almost always refused to call him by his proper name or even call him sensei at all. Naruto had learned to let that go; trying to strongarm Sasuke wasn't going to work any more then it would have with him when he was younger.

Once again Naruto thought about just how much Sasuke reminded the young jounin of himself from his early days as a fresh genin. Of course, to those who might find that surprising, they might have found the concept of a certain young Hyuuga having more in common with the Godaime Hokage himself then she could have realized. Itachi was always a quiet and reserved sort, so much so that sometimes Naruto found it hard to believe that how he acted now was him having come out of his shell. He might not have had her seemingly high amount of self-doubt, or perhaps simply not as much, but he certainly had the shyness down pat.

It was Hinata whom Naruto was most impressed with, even though she still wasn't even close to a match for Shikamaru, let alone Sasuke. He tried not to compare them too much; they were in different leagues all together, despite similar backgrounds and although she was still behind the others, the young Hyuuga was making progress in leaps and bounds. Most importantly, though, she was starting to believe in herself, even if just a little bit. It was a start, and that was all Naruto could honestly hope for.

The young jounin chuckled and wondered for a moment when he'd gotten so mature before a small frown crossed his mind, drifting back to the war and his time in it. Now cold, those memories still burned in his mind, though he'd been reluctant to let them grab too much of a hold on him; he valued his good mood too much to let it ruin him. She had always loved that about him.

He shook the thoughts from his mind and looked out over his team again, watching as they closed in on that cat at last. Good, they'd be knocking out early today, it seemed. Usually that would have meant extra training, but Naruto would give them a break for today. He had to go get ready for a date that Itachi had set him up on with an Inuzuka named Hana or something like that. He pushed off from his position and raced to join his genin.

**Ι**

Itachi looked out over the village, watching as the sun began its descent into the west. He crossed his arms behind him, standing as he watched it, pondering over what he should say to the smooth and plotting gentlemen who was at this moment occupying the space in front of the hokage's desk. It was not a new proposal by any means; the man had come forward with this concept before, however it was always that, a concept. A seed of an idea, slowly growing until the man felt ready to call full attention to it, hoping that it was bearing fruit.

The man in question was one Hiashi Hyuuga, leader of the Hyuuga clan that was, since the downfall of Itachi's own from it's high place, in a top running spot for the most powerful clan in the villages. It was a position they were jockeying for quite closely, along with some of the other large clans and, knowing how politics worked, the young hokage could hardly blame them for their ambitions. It was not seditious, and in truth worked for the betterment of the village as a whole; clans improving themselves brought up the quality of the villages shinobi, which in turn made them more valuable for contracts. As long as the race for top billing did not adversely effect the ability of the clans to cooperate then Itachi would not stop it.

That said, since the downfall of the Uchiha, there was one clan who had risen to the occasion and proved itself more a boon to Konoha then ever before; the Hyuuga had seen opportunity and stepped up their game. Now, the head of the Clan, Hiashi himself, had come to cash in his clan's good reputation. And, being the savvy man that he was, likely advised by the wisest and most conniving of his clan's council, he'd asked for something that simultaneously gave the Hyuuga great standing and power in the village, while providing a service the village was in need of.

"I will not attempt to deceive you and say it is a simple request. I know it is anything but that. Still, it is a job the Hyuuga are well suited for, and one the village will be needing. As time goes on, memories are going to start to fade. We have security now, but it can't last forever. And, I'm sure the slow rise in petty crime has not escaped your sharp eyes," Hiashi said, continuing to make his case as he had been for the last few hours. Itachi had kept his responses brief and enigmatic for the most part, attempting to keep the elder clan head purposefully on edge until the hokage was ready to make his own demands.

Demands he now felt were wise to bring to the table.

"I agree," Itachi said suddenly, cutting off the Hyuuga mid argument and causing him to double take for a moment; a crucial moment of imbalance that the hokage used to his advantage. Hyuuga were experts at reading people, it came with the territory for them. Thus, Itachi knew he had to have the utmost control; a battle of words was still a battle, and many of the same rules and tricks applied. One simply needed to know how to apply them.

"The creation of a police for to replace the one lost with the seditious activities of the Uchiha is of the utmost importance to the village. Despite those activities, the purpose and need for a police force still exists, and I can think of no greater choice for who to entrust this need to then a clan that has served Konohagakure no Sato loyally for generations."

Hiashi seemed pleased, and began to open his mouth in response. Itachi cut him off.

"However, even still, such an honor requires a great deal of trust. Trust that is hard to give so easily. By giving this power over to the Hyuuga, I, as the Hokage, must be able to implicitly and explicitly trust that they will always put the good of the village first. Even after generations this sort of trust is not easy to give. It cannot be given freely."

Hiashi said nothing this time. The clan leader knew he'd fallen into a trap, joy seeming to flow from him; it was obvious to the hokage that the man thought he'd lost his chance.

"As a result, I will need a sign of your trust, something that shows you are willing to link yourselves closer to the clan, and the hokage, than ever before," Itachi finished, turning around and retrieving a set of documents from one of the drawers of his desk. The hokage slid them across the desk, marveling at how calculated the speed in which Hiashi retrieved them was; not too fast, to show over eagerness, but not too slow as to show dismissal. Hiashi was a worthy opponent, as strong here in debate as he was in combat.

"This is the contract I have prepared for the formation of the Konoha Security Forces Squadron," he said, adjusting his official robes as he took his seat. He was never quite fond of the white of the outfit, personally thinking he'd have looked far better in black and red instead sometimes. He sat in silence, awaiting the Hyuuga clan head's response.

It was quick to come. Hiashi had used his byakugan to scan the entire document in one quick look. Itachi kept his amusement at the slip of displeasure that showed on Hiashi's face to himself.

"You ask for much, Itachi-san," Hiashi said, frowning as he did.

"So do you, Hiashi," Itachi responded, purposefully leaving off the honorific as he did. It was perhaps the least subtle of his tricks yet. Hiashi simply nodded.

"The Hyuuga agree to the terms, then, honorable Hokage," Hiashi said, bowing as he did. Itachi let himself smile. He had won.

**Κ**

The room stank of formaldehyde and other embalming materials, mixed with the smell of antiseptic and raw alcohol. It was dark, for the most part, kept that way on purpose, to not upset the delicate and sensitive chemicals stored here, as well as the equally delicate and sensitive materials they were protecting. The only light came from the subtle greenish glow of luminescent sigils that marked the various jars in the room. The light cast sickly shadows through the room, dancing from the bubbling liquids of the jars.

The door of the room was thick, warded and sealed by the only two people allowed inside of it. It was hidden away in the deepest depths of their most hidden facility, an underground secret that they went through excessive lengths to preserve the secrecy of. It had taken some time for one of them to rebuild his network after his fall from grace and power, but his timely alliance had been a boon to both parties, as this secure hold was testament to.

Two figures stood amongst the jars, greedy eyes sweeping the dozens upon dozens of filled ones. There was a time when they had not outnumbered the empty ones, but those times had long been gone; they had struck gold recently, right from under the noses of Konoha. They'd covered their tracks perfectly, both on a micro and macro scale. They were not so naïve to think it would never be cracked, but by the time it was it would be far too late for that village, and anyone else who would stand in their way.

The pair wore matching robes of black and red, though their similarities in form mostly ended there, even though they watched the floating eyes with the same wanting stares.

"How goes your research?" one asked with an elder, measured voice. He was shorter then the other figure by almost ten centimeters, a small but noticeable gap in height, further exaggerated by the shorter of the pair's ever so slightly bent stance.

"As well as could be fairly expected, I say," said a smoother, slicker voice. The taller man's pale skin was cast in the same shade of green as the sigils, reflecting it in a strange and unnatural way. "We are almost ready to begin practical trials."

"Good. I want to be the first subject."

"I'm not sure that is the wisest choice. We don't know what side effects could happen. I would loathe to lose such a valuable partner." the taller of the pair said, voice dripping with sarcastic venom. The elder voice said nothing, simply turning and heading for the door. He did not speak till he had it open.

"I will be the first subject, and you will make it work. Else, you'll be explaining my absence to Him." he said, and the went, leaving the taller one to grin at the implied threat. Still, the elder of the pair had a point, and it would be such a waste to see him go; he was such a useful ally, after all. The taller figure followed the elder one out, turning one last greedy glance to the floating eyes before he sealed the door behind him.

_**Ω**_


	4. Part 1, Chapter 4

**Α**

Naruto slid his hands into his jacket, protecting them from the chilly night air. The long coat trailed down past his knees, a dark crimson with black flames, modeled after the jacket his father had worn so many years ago. Naruto had exchanged his on-duty flak vest for it, wanting to change things at least somewhat for the date Itachi had set him up on. The young jounin hadn't been particularly thrilled with the prospect, but was caught between his own good nature and desire to not give Itachi any reason or excuse to stick him and Team 7 on some annoying make-work mission.

The date had gone well enough. Naruto had worked with Inuzuka during the war and found them enjoyable, if somewhat crude, company. Not that he was remarkably high-brow, but the Inuzuka tended to have a feral quality about them that could be off-putting. Thus, it was to his great surprise that Hana Inuzuka actually tended to break most of his expectations. Not all, of course, as some things seemed to be consistent with the clan of dog-nin regardless. She'd brought along her partners, a fact that was notably different then what he'd expected; the three dogs had been remarkably well behaved, though, even if they seemed a bit uneasy around Naruto at times.

Hana herself was a tall, fit, and admittedly attractive young woman around two years older than Naruto. Unlike many of her clan, her features were far softer and less wild or feral than Naruto had been expecting. She was a chuunin who had dressed in a rather impressively low-cut red blouse and a pair of shorts that went just past halfway to her knees. Itachi hadn't been lying when he told Naruto that it was going to be a casual affair.

Naruto met Hana at a small restaurant she'd picked out herself, one of her personal favorites. It was a foreign restaurant, though Naruto was pleased to find it had ramen on the menu and decided to treat himself to a large and a large serving of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet, though he made sure to remember all the lessons in etiquette that ero-sennin had tried to drill into him; even with an Inuzuka, he didn't want to go quite so wild as he would have normally when it came to his favorite dish, though he could not keep all of his excitement in, eliciting a small giggle from the Inuzuka when he dug in. She turned to her own dim sum meal with equal gusto, most notably the steamed meatballs she favored so highly.

Dinner conversation was fairly standard and reasonably easy, never particularly taking off nor dying away for an uncomfortably long period. It was during discussion that Naruto found out she was a medical-nin who had worked on the Kumogakure front during the war, rather than the Iwagakure front that Naruto had served on. That topic had come up a few times but remained something that they tended to avoid. The Third Great Shinobi War was a fresh memory that neither had many fond memories of. They'd both lost far too many comrades and friends.

They ate through their meals quickly, spending an hour or two in conversation after that while they nursed desserts, such as Naroto's personal favorite of oshiruko, a form of red bean soup. One topic of amusement between the pair was Hana's fondness for the foreign coffee, whereas Naruto could not stand the bitter black drink. Naruto picked up the check, much to the surprise of Hana, who was perhaps not as used to being treated as a lady. Naruto, Hana, and her three canine companions then walked back to her home, where they parted ways after a simple goodbye.

Naruto left without much lingering, and perhaps an unexpected sense of disappointment; it was not so much that the date had not gone well, far from it. Of course, he'd no intention of asking for a second. He'd enjoyed his time, but something about it all felt… missing. Itachi was going to scold him for that no doubt. He kept walking for some time, unwilling to go home, even as the evening turned into night.

The young jounin sighed, looking up into the night sky, staring at the wide moon that stared back at him. He frowned as an image of his old teammate flashed into his mind, shaking it away.

_Youko._

He turned on his heel, looking off into the distant for a moment before he began to head for an old training ground. Naruto knew he wouldn't be sleeping any time soon; he might as well spend that time visiting his parents.

**Β**

Itachi stared at the small family altar. He waited a moment, simply staring at it before he knelt down and lit a stick of incense, whispering off a simple prayer to the deceased before he looked up again, staring at the picture of his father for a long while. He had done this each day he could, busy though his role as the hokage kept him. Amongst his family, Itachi knew he was the only one who did so regularly. Not even his mother, Mikoto, spent time here regularly, and Sasuke had not once left an offering or prayer. Itachi supposed that was not so surprising. They'd changed since that night.

He closed his eyes, pushing back the memories; the smell of fire and blood. Not all of the leaders of the conspiracy had gone so quietly, though against the mangekyou they had little chance. Itachi had drawn on it far more often then he'd cared to think about. He knew the side effects of that power quite clearly, wondering again which kami the Uchiha must have offended (or, worse perhaps, which they'd impressed) to gain a 'gift' like this. The cost was so great, and so terrible. With the death of the clan leadership, he'd been able to also cover up the story of the mangekyou sharingan. That was a power he no longer trusted anyone with, particularly not after He had shown up.

The hokage shoot the thoughts from his head as he stood, letting his mind drift away from such concerns and to more practical ones. The establishment of the Konoha Security Forces Squadron would be announced tomorrow, and although he expected very little in the way of problems, he knew he would have to deal with at least a few shows of protest and objection from some of the larger clans; political posturing and nothing more. He'd grown progressively more numb to that over time.

In truth, the Konoha Security Forces Squadron would be staffed by far more than simply recruits from the Hyuuga clan, just as the Military Police had been far more than just Uchiha. They had made up a majority of its membership, and the Hyuuga would be no different with the Konoha Security Forces Squadron. Still, Itachi had no doubt a sizable minority of Nara and Inuzuka, amongst other clans, would likely join to fill up the ranks as well, both had skill-sets well suited for work as police and enforcement.

Of course, the Hyuuga would have all the upper echelons of the force filled with members of their clan, and Itachi would have not expected it any other way, given the great concession that Hiashi had made to get the organization founded at all. The secrets of the Caged Bird Seal were something closely guarded by the clan, and Itachi found it perhaps a bit too easy to understand the lengths a clan would go to defend its secrets.

He found the practice unpleasant, but knew quite well that attempting to abolish a clan tradition, even one as distasteful as the Caged Bird Seal, would cause an uproar of all the clans; the practice itself was irrelevant, but an attack (and it certainly would be seen as such) on the sovereignty of one clan would be seen as an attack against the sovereignty of all of the clans. Itachi could not afford to squander the goodwill he'd been lucky to amass in the half a decade he'd served as hokage. Goodwill he'd managed to keep despite being thrust into a position that he'd not expected nor truly desired. Goodwill he'd managed to keep despite having absolutely no experience with such responsibilities.

He'd at least managed to, indirectly, put a de facto end to Konoha's involvement in the Third Great Shinobi War after the collusion of a number of the smaller nations turned into a full-fledged and very formal pan-national alliance with enough force to rival some of the larger nations. It had been a gambit on their part; against one of the larger elemental countries they could stand, but not against two, and three would cause the entire alliance to dissolve without a word. But relations between those nations were beyond strained they were able to hedge their bets on the great nations being unable rally together. Itachi had been quick to form an accord with these nations, assisted by the remarkably well-placed Jiraiya. The Land of Wind was quick to see the advantage in making a similar deal.

Although peace had never been truly struck between the lands of Earth and Lightning, they were even more reluctant to face the combined might of Fire, Wind, and the dozens of smaller nations they'd have to face to get to either of the larger foes. It was a temporary measure, Itachi knew; there were those already working to start the wars again. It was his job to make Konohagakure ready for that. Ready for Them.

Itachi walked through the house silently, coming to a stop in front of Sasuke's door. The young hokage let out a soft sigh as he realized his brother was not in his bed, despite the hour; he'd likely exhausted himself training again. Itachi turned back around, heading for the door. That boy was going to ruin himself. He slid the door open and leapt off into the night, heading for spot he knew Sasuke would be.

**Γ**

Hinata sat in the courtyard of the rock garden, resting with her legs tucked under her, leaning slightly against the tree that sat at its core; the large tree was one of the few things her father had not changed after Mother had passed. It had also been one of the first things Hinata's mother had planted, not long before Hinata had been born. Hinata came here often, particularly on nights like this where she could not find it in her to sleep. It was late, she knew; the moon shined down on her, reminding her that she should be sleeping. She knew that Team 7 would have another mission tomorrow, and training after that. She couldn't afford to be tired, not with her being the weak link of the team as she was.

She sighed for a moment, shaking her head. No, Naruto-sensei had told her she was doing well. Kurenei-sama had said similar things, but it was different when her new teacher did; he was harsher some times, but not like her father. He was harsh, but fair. Naruto-sensei was always quick to give her a push of encouragement, tempered with fair pushes. He did not lavish praise, but was quick to remind her of her success; he was critical, but never insulting. It was… nice. He made her feel so welcomed and safe when he was around, and his smiles always seemed to bring a strange warmth to her. Strangely, she constantly had the feeling that she should be remembering something about him, as though his face should be familiar to her, but no matter how hard she tried it simply escaped her.

A blush crossed her face as she remembered that she had dreamt about him last night. It had been a strange dream where she was being held in his arms as they ran through trees. She had felt so small, and so tired, yet so very warm and safe. It had been a nice dream.

Hinata leaned harder against her mother's tree. It felt good here, like being around mother again. For a moment, the young girl imagined that the moon was her eye, looking down at her, a thought that brought a smile to her face. Yes, she was certain her mother was watching her still. She spent a few more minutes before standing and silently making her way back to bed. She turned back for a moment as she left the garden, smiling.

"Goodnight, Mother," she whispered, and then continued on her way.

**Δ**

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad," Naruto said with a slight smile, voice feeling somewhat small as he spoke. The young jounin let out a slight chuckle. "It's been awhile, hasn't it? Sorry, been really busy lately."

He stood in front of the large black memorial stone, a vaguely kunai-shaped block of obsidian carved with more names then Naruto cared to count. Someone had set a small bouquet of flowers in front of it, and Naruto kicked himself for not remembering to bring something. He had more friends on the block then he cared to think about, as well as the two people who'd given him the most important gifts of all: life and love. Naruto set his hand against the stone, finger tracing the names of Minato and Kushina Namikaze.

"I'm trying to remember to listen to what you told me, mom. I know I should be in bed, but just felt like coming and seeing you guys. I'm trying to take care of myself, and eat good, just like you wanted me to. I've got some friends, good ones too, though I've lost a few along the way. Itachi became the hokage, can you believe it? I think I told you about that before, haven't I? Still a bit of a shock, though," he continued, scratching the back of his head as he did. "He keeps trying to set me up with girls, though. Just got back from a date, actually. Don't think it'll go anywhere, though. She's not too weird, I guess, though. I'm trying to stay away from those ones, like you told me. I'm still trying to find someone like you. I don't know if someone like that exists."

He paused a moment, fingers shifting across to where he covered another name up, eyes closing as he sighed. "Not any more, at least."

A cold breeze rolled through the field, but Naruto did not shiver. He simply stood, still as the standing stone for a long while.

"Oh, I have a team now too! I'm a teacher, just like you, Dad!" he said suddenly, smile returning to his face. "Itachi's younger brother, Sasuke, is one of my genin. Bit quiet, really driven. A Nara boy named Shikamaru too, and a Hyuuga girl named Hinata."

His voice trailed off again for a moment. "They're good kids. I want to make them strong. A shinobi's life... it's so tough some times. I don't want these kids to have to grow up like me, and I don't want their kids to grow up that way either. I want to be a hero like you, Dad. And you too, Mom. That's my goal, my dream. I'll make it come true, just like you told me to."

Naruto's head fell for a moment, and silence once again fell over the field. He felt so strange. It had been thirteen years now, but he still felt like they were next to him sometimes. Watching him, protecting him, and guiding him.

"Haven't seen Jiraiya very much lately, but he's the same as always when I do. He taught me well, though. I worry about him sometimes, but he's tough. He takes care of himself. Still… I worry." Naruto said. He turned up, staring at the moon again, "I should go; it's getting late. Glad I got to talk to you, though."

He turned away, stopping halfway with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye. "I miss you guys. I love you, Mom and Dad. Thanks for everything."

And then he was gone.

**Ε**

Itachi pushed himself off another rooftop, launching him high into the air. The night air stung at his face, and for once he was grateful for the flowing robes of his office. Their purpose was largely ceremonial; a tradition from an earlier time. They also were well suited to concealing actually useful gear beneath them. Still, the entire thing was often something of a bother. The protection it provided on cold nights was the outfit's only saving grace in Itachi's opinion, and even that only barely.

He liked the hat, though.

It had been far too long since he'd done this; simply leapt across his home, enjoying the unique perspective it gave. When he was younger he'd often take to the rooftops to avoid others; he'd never been the most social of children, after all. He'd thrown himself into training as a way to avoid contact, and it wasn't until he'd been placed on a team with the likes of Naruto and Youko that he'd truly came out of his shell. He'd come to rely on them in the way he'd never trusted anyone. Given they were fighting on the front lines before they were even a decade old, that was perhaps expected. It had been that experience that made him value peace so very much, and cherish those he cared for.

Itachi made a mental note to visit Aimi later. Thought of his long-time lover brought a smile to his face; his job kept him busy, but Aimi took that all in stride. She was a joyful spot in his life, a daughter of one of the Uchiha clan merchants. He was unwilling to put her in danger by revealing their relationship, something else that she took in great stride. It amazed Itachi how much Aimi put up with, and he scolded himself for not making more time for her. Tomorrow, yes. He'd go visit her tomorrow. He should bring some wasurenagusas as well; Aimi had always loved Forget-me-nots.

His feet touched down onto another roof, leap having carried him over three buildings in one push. There were no footsteps as he ran; he didn't want be discourteous and wake anyone after all. With equal silence, he launched himself back into the air, heading for the old secluded spot that he used to practice his kunaijutsu. Itachi sailed over another set of buildings, moving as quickly as his silence would allow; Sasuke was going to catch his death of a cold if he spent the night in this weather.

"Itachi!" a sudden voice shouted, carrying far in the night air. The young hokage touched down just in time to see Naruto land next to him, leaping in sync with his old teammate. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Sasuke hasn't returned yet. I suspect he's been out training," Itachi said, knowing that scolding the young jounin on being so loud at such an hour was likely a pointless affair, as was asking what he himself was doing out so late. Naruto simply shook his head and chuckled when he heard Itachi's response.

"Yeah, that does sound like him. And I gave them the day off early too. Figures."

"Ah, yes," Itachi said with a smirk. "How was the date?"

"Err… good, great! Fantastic, even! Yep. Don't need to be setting up any more any time soon. Nope," Naruto replied with a cough.

"Oh, so you'll be seeing Hana again, then?"

"Weeeeell, I don't want to _rush_ things, you know?"

Itachi simply sighed and chuckled, pushing off the next house with greater force then before, but there was a smile on his face. He could always count on Naruto to be himself. It was a reassuring piece of consistency in a chaotic world.

"What, what did I say?" Naruto said, pushing to catch up with his old teammate.

**Ζ**

At one of the village's gates, an elderly man checked in at the guard station before heading into the village proper. He moved with the sway that betrayed his hard drinking ways. Not that anyone could really blame him; if anyone deserved a drink, it was him, right?

His attentions were grabbed for a second as he saw two figures flying, silhouetted by the moon. The old man looked down at the sake gourd in his hand and realized that it might be a good time to listen to his daughter Tsunami and stop drinking so heavily

**Η**

"You're wasting my time!" Gatou shouted, bringing his fist down onto his desk with a resounding thud; he'd had the desk specially made to echo his anger more efficiently, and make up for his short stature. He went to great lengths to make up for that shortcoming, building up his image of intimidation and power. It had been a strange request, and one that had cost him a great deal to have done, but Gatou wanted it, and he'd the money to make it happen. Gatou always got what he wanted, always. Of course, it seemed these 'shinobi' seemed to have missed that memo, and were consistently trying his patience.

"I gave you a simple job. A _single, __**simple**__, __**BASIC **_job and you can't even do that? I pay you a fortune, and you give me _nothing,_" he continued, his face beginning to turn red with anger. The shinobi in question were simply standing there, smug as always; the butcher and his miniature shadow. These were supposed to be legendary ninja, wanted men with bounties as long as Gatou's bank ledger, but all they'd given him was failure, and it was trying his patience.

"I told you to kill a single old man, and yet he's scampered off somewhere now, perhaps to get help. That is _**unacceptable. **_You are going to deliver on our arrangement or else I foresee that your old home town might be getting some tips on your location. Of course, you might run into a little accident before they even arrive," the shipping magnate said, folding his fingers in front of his face as he did, a sinister grin forming on his face. "Now are you the best, or just wasting my time?"

"Watch your mouth, little man," said the largest of the shinobi in question, one Zabuza Momochi. His insult caused Gatou's eyes to fill with rage once more, face beginning to take on an even redder shade than before.

"Why you little-"

"Shut up. I said we're going to kill him, and we will. But you watch your mouth, or else it'll be your head rolling instead of his," he said, turning on his heel as he did. He glanced down at his younger partner, a boy who couldn't be more then thirteen or fourteen years old.

"Let's go," Zabuza head, heading out the door without another word.

"Hai, Zabuza-sempai," Suigetsu Houzuki said, face twisting into a snaggle-toothed grin. He fingering the hilt of the sword tucked into his belt, following his idol out of the building after one last insulting glare at their already enraged employer.

**Ω**

**Gaiden Α**

The distant howling of a desert wolf echoed in the cold of the night, the huge moon illuminating the deserts and casting shadows across Sunagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Sands. A lone figure walked through the streets, a set of six small grey gourds hanging from his belt in sets of three. He was wrapped layers of cloth and robe, designed to protect from the sand and sun, a well as the biting cold of the harsh desert night. The boy couldn't be more than thirteen years old, notably for his deep red hair and shrouded eyes. His face was soft, pale skin reflecting and seeming to almost sparkle in the light of the moon.

The boy moved without a real purpose, wandering the streets aimlessly, as though he had nothing to worry about. His fingers danced, tracing patterns in the air that were mimicked by a dark shroud of sandy particles. They swirled around, following his every move and command. This was his power, a gift from his birth, a gift from his mother.

"Gaara!" a soft voice called out, causing the young boy to turn around, smile lighting up his face. His pace quickened as he turned to follow the voice.

"Gaara!" the voice called again, gentle as the first. The young boy moved ever faster, racing towards the sound, smile growing larger all the while. He came upon the source, running up and throwing his arms around the woman from behind, avoiding the large tan gourd, much larger than his own, that hung from her back.

"Here I am, mother!" he said happily, causing Karura to smile.

"Ah, Gaara, where were you?"

"I was just walking, mother. I like the night," he replied with a smile, releasing his mother as he did. She reached down and rubbed her fingers through his hair, chuckling as small particles fell from it. He took after her so much.

"Well, it's time to head home. Your father is worried about you," she said with a chuckle. The man was an amusing sort; he knew quite well that Gaara was in no danger, not as the son of the Kazekage, and certainly not with the gift the man had seen fit to risk giving Gaara. He was so very strange, so much that even as his wife, Karura could not understand him some times. He valued his children's lives but, at the same time was not above using them for what he claimed was the 'good of the village.' She worried about that some time, but as long as she was around there was at least some balance to him.

"Come on then, let's get home," she said. Gaara simply nodded and followed along as his mother headed back towards their house. They walked in step together as mother and son; Karura no Sabaku, and Gaara no Teppeki.

In another time, and another place, it might have been Gaara who would have his mother's title, had he been the bearer of the One-Tailed Shukaku. It would have been so, had the second bearer of the sand spirit not fallen ill when he was young, requiring that a new host be found. By fate, a young girl who was the niece of the Third Kazekage was chosen; a young girl who would grow up to marry the man who would become the Fourth Kazekage. Although she had a harsh life, it was at least better than some, and with the outbreak of the Third Great Shinobi War, it was decided that it would be unwise to upset the bearer of their greatest weapon in the desert they called home, particularly not in the weak position they were left in with the loss of the Third Kazekage.

She would go on to have three beautiful children with her husband, shortly after his rise to power. It was not until the first two were young that they noticed the great effect that being the child of a jinchuuriki had on someone. Both had been born with physical signs-the shrouded eyes-as well as a remarkably large reservoir of chakra, but it was not until Gaara that they came up with a method of using this. With the help of Chiyo, a medical-nin of great renown, he underwent an operation to unlock the hidden genetics of the Third Kazekage contained in the child, against the wishes of Karura.

Despite the risk, Gaara was born perfectly healthy, and with a natural ability to manipulate magnetic fields much like his ancestor. As he grew, he learned to use this ability to replicate the Iron Sand techniques of the Third Kazekage, as well as the techniques of his mother. His childhood was tough, as most are in the harsh desert, but it was tempered by the love of his family. One day, he dreamed of following in his father's footsteps and becoming the Kazekage himself. And some day, he just might.

**Gaiden Β**

That same night, in the jungles of the Land of Waterfalls, a young figure of perhaps thirteen years sat alone in the humid night. She was perched up a tree, one of her legs dangling loosely from the thick branch of a tree, back braced against it. Her hair was minty green, with eyes the color of fresh peaches. Her outfit was simple, a mesh undershirt and a small white top with a matching set of mesh-like shorts and a white skirt; it barely covered anything at all, but such was the nature of living in such a humid climate. A red sack hung from her back, holding her most prized possessions, and the only things she called friends.

The jungles where never quiet, but Fuu didn't mind that; the cicada sang to her, calling to something deep and primal inside of her. She liked the jungle, and the natural world. It was a cruel place, but humans were no different she'd learned. Worse, even. The cicadaE at least sang for her, humans did nothing but shun and hate her for something that had never been her fault. She slid her fingers down across the three-string shamisen laying across her lap, letting out a long melody somehow merging with that of the insects buzzing; or rather, their buzzing began to shift and change, tuning itself with her sorrowful song.

She let the tune go and the cicada's song once again returned to normal.

They sang with her, in harmony. She looked off into the distance, towards the massive tree that sat at the center of her home, though she never felt truly at home there; only here in the trees did she ever feel that. At least here, amongst the beasts and bugs and noise of the night, she never felt alone.

**Gaiden Ω**

**Author Note:**

The omake was just a little something I wanted to do after some musing. I plan to do more of them as time goes on, focusing on other characters that have been changed in this differing universe. For those that don't know Japanese (including me, I just pretend to and use a very good dictionary), Sabaku meant Sand Waterfall, but could also mean Desert. It's an apt title for the jinchuuriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku. Teppeki, on the other hand, can mean Impenetrable Fortress, but it can also mean Iron Wall, a reference to Gaara's ability to produce a similar 'ultimate defense' with his iron sand.

Fuu is the jinchuuriki of the Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle. Always found her design interesting, and figured I'd use the other jinchuuriki a bit, as I've always been fond of them. Expect to see more of Gaara and Fuu later in the story.


	5. Part 1, Chapter 5

**Α**

Sasuke couldn't catch his breath. His heart was beating heavy in his chest, faster than it had ever beat before. In all his life he had never expected battle to be like this. He had thought he would be ready; ready to fight and to kill and all of the other things he knew were expected of him as a shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The pair earlier, inept though they were, has secured this vision in his mind. Now, Sasuke felt a very strange thing awaken inside of him: fear. Pure and simple, he felt that fear flush his system. He tried to turn away from it at first, but it clawed at his mind.

Zabuza swung his massive weapon in a wide arc, forcing Sasuke to bend back as it sailed over him. Sasuke completed the backwards somersault and came back up only to find that the missing-nin was giving him no time to rest. Zabuza used the momentum of the slash to carry the weapon all the way around, rotating it and then slamming it down in a vertical strike. Sasuke dodged left and attempted to launch a counter attack out of reflex, only to watch as the taller and older swordsman snapped his leg out and sent the young Uchiha boy flying back into a tree ten feet away.

Seconds later, Sasuke watched as Hinata was thrown back as well. She let out a pathetic gasp as she impacted a tree, far higher than Sasuke had, and collapsed into a heap on the ground as she fell. She twitched slightly at the impact, gasping for air as her diaphragm spasmed. Sasuke watched her for a moment, but something caught his attentions. His body moved on instinct as Zabuza swept in and sliced through the tree he had been slammed against. Sasuke launched in, managing to land a small series of blows before the hulking man swung his arm in a backhand.

But he saw it coming, and ducked. Sasuke and Zabuza alike were surprised by this turn of events. The move had bought Sasuke vital seconds; seconds he promptly squandered due to his inexperience. Zabuza recovered first from the momentary surprise and once again landed a kick to Sasuke's chest, this time sending him flying towards the lake. Sasuke had yet to realize the single tomoe that swam in a crimson pool around a single black pupil that had formed in his eye. He hit the ground with a thud and crumpled, struggling to push himself up. In the corner of his eye he saw Hinata push herself up again, settling into a sloppy and pained combat stance as she prepared for another attack.

He quickly took stock of the situation; he and Hinata were getting the tar beat out of them by this mizu bunshin while Shikamaru guarded the client, and the real Zabuza held Naruto in a water prison. He still wasn't entirely sure how the blond haired jounin had ended up such a situation. Sasuke almost felt a pang of anger at the Nara boy, but remembered just how bad Shikamaru was at taijutsu. He'd be more of a liability than an asset in a fight like this.

'Not that we're doing too much better,' Sasuke thought with a scowl, pushing himself up. How had they gotten to such as low a point as this?

_**Β  
**__A few days earlier…_

The mission room of Konohagakure no Sato was moderately busy. Clients were coming in, supplying the basic funding for the shinobi of the village with their various requests. Missions were generally low key; a large number of rank D missions as always, as well as a handful of rank C jobs, and even a rank B job. Higher jobs were far less common in these days of peace, regardless of how strained that peace tended to be.

Sasuke was feeling rather unfulfilled about his current career as a shinobi so far; he and the rest of Team 7 had been universally regulated to fairly low-grade rank D missions. It was not all that surprising; Konoha had been in a draw down that his broth- no, that the _Godaime Hokage _had begun to do after the de facto end to the Third Great Shinobi World War almost five years ago. He'd quickly gone about reversing the rapid expansion that Danzou Shimura, the now disgraced Yondaime Hokage, had begun after his promotion following the death of Hiruzen Sarutobi during the appearance of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox thirteen ears ago.

This draw down had led to a slowing of training and a return of longer genin training and menial tasks. Some had questioned the judgment of such an action, given the fact that neither the villages of Hidden Rock or Hidden Cloud had began a similar draw down, and indeed had instead begun to accelerate their training programs. The hokage's public reasoning was always a matter of quality of quantity, though there were some who expressed doubts.

The public reasoning for using genin for these simple missions was giving them a supplementary source of income as well as usually giving simple field experience to the genin in question. With the war over, genin no longer found themselves on the front lines, forced to learn fast or die. They also happened to require income, as their needs were not supplied by either supply train or pillage; foraging was a skill highly valued by an irregular force such as shinobi, and one of their greatest strength. A small force of ninja could not only take on a traditional force many times their size, but could also survive in enemy territory far more easily than a formation of conscripts or samurai.

But while they were in Konohagakure no Sato, the shinobi's role shifted. They needed income, which is where the missions came in. Technically, most of the ninja in almost all of the villages received a sort of subsidy, enough to live on to the barest degree, but missions were the true source of income for most of the shinobi on Konoha's payroll, as it was for most of the other villages. And, of course, they provided that experience. And Sasuke understood all of this; he had, after all, been at the top of his class, as was expected of an Uchiha such as him. This did not, however, remove the feeling of discontent and utter boredom he was experiencing.

Team 7 had entered the mission office to receive their mission allotment for the week; though missions of D- or even C-ranking rarely took a full week to complete, it was abnormal for a ninja team to receive more than one or two missions per week. Two months into their careers as genin, Team 7 had accomplished six missions so far. They'd chased down cats and cleared areas of trash for the majority of those, spending the remainder of the time in various team formation training and the like. And while Sasuke understood the value of this all, it did not stop him from feeling as though it was just another thing holding him back. It had irked him so much that he had almost complained to the hokage about the jobs they'd been getting.

Lucky for him, he didn't have to. Naruto did it for him.

"Come on, Itachi! Give my team a real mission already, would yah? I'm vouching for them, they're ready for something that isn't just another boring milk run, dattebayo?" the blond haired Jounin shouted, causing the hokage's chuunin assistant for the day, an old friend of both Itachi and Naruto, one Iruka Umino, to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Naruto just never changed. His team watched with mixed expressions: Sasuke had a mix of exasperation and relief, Shikamaru had a mix of exasperation and apathy, and Hinata finished it off with a mix of exasperation and amusement; her new sensei seemed to naturally bring a smile to her face.

"Naruto-san, you know we hand out missions based on a number of parameters and determining factors to besides simply the jounin's recommendation. We have to balance out these factors, as well as the best interests of the client, _as well _as the personal requests of the clients," Iruka said, as if going over a lesson with a stubborn student; Iruka's habits as a teacher died hard, even if he was far too young to have been the sensei of Naruto's academy class. "We can't simply hand out jobs like that!"

"But-"

"Here," Itachi said suddenly, cutting off his old teammate as he slid a small file across the table. Naruto rushed over in an instant to snatch it up before the young hokage had even finished sliding it across the table. "It's a C rank mission; an escort job."

Naruto read over the file quickly, nodding and murmuring agreement the entire time. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, brow furrowed, giving him a look of perhaps too much forced consideration. Hinata stifled a giggle while Sasuke scowled; he'd sorely overestimated the maturity of his teacher. For every little thing that Naruto did to bring up Sasuke's estimation of him, there were twice as many scenes like this that brought it right back down.

"Um, Hokage-sama, are you certain this is a good idea?" Iruka whispered, causing Itachi to let off a small chuckle.

"It'll be fine, Iruka. It's a simple job, after all. And besides," he said, motioning to the three young genin, "they could use some experience out of the village."

Iruka seemed unconvinced; although he trusted the hokage and Naruto (well, sort of for Naruto), he had been the teacher of the three genin for a long time. But, the hokage had the final say on such matters.

"Are these brats supposed to be the ninja you're sending to protect me? Great, just super," an elderly voice said, words dripping with sarcasm. The quip followed by the slurping sound of someone downing a drink without much care for manners or decorum. Team 7 turned around to find an elderly man with salt and pepper hair and glasses downing what appeared to be a jug of sake. The three genin simply stared at him for a moment, their sensei still thoroughly engrossed (or at least trying to appear to be) by the mission file that Itachi had given him, before Shikamaru voiced, in his own unique way, what all three of the Team 7 genin had on their minds.

"This is going to be such a drag."

**Γ**

The few hours that followed were a blur for most of Team 7, each of them going through the standard checklist for a mission beyond the walls and borders of Konoha. Most shinobi and kunoichi learned the process by heart and simply did it naturally, always remained in a state of constant readiness (often having a travel and equipment bag sealed somewhere on their person nearly constantly,) or for the truly experienced, not at all; it was one of those rules that was often simply ignored based upon a combination of expediency and laziness, but it took years of tedious processes to build up the combination of personal fortitude and experience to just check the damn thing off permanently and realize that some rules were meant to be broken, or at the least that no one cared when you broke them.

Unfortunately for the three genin members of Team 7, this experience was something they lacked, and thus they spent quite a bit of time preparing a travel bag for the first time. There was a very strict list of what you were and weren't supposed to take, full of minutia and clauses and catches and loopholes. Much like the rest of the pre-mission checklist, experienced ninja tended to simply ignore the whole thing and pack whatever they thought they'd need. When they learned basic fuuinjutsu and the general sealing methods, many shinobi had a habit of taking everything up to, and including, the kitchen sink. Others tended towards a minimalistic approach. But very few, if any, paid much attention to the regulations themselves. This was, again, something that the genin of Team 7 had no experience with, and as a result they spent a fair bit of time making sure they had all the required gear and none of the prohibited items and so on and so forth. It was all quite boring and tedious.

Shikamaru was surprised to find he was the first of his team to arrive, other than their teacher. When he arrived, he found Naruto-sensei carving remarkably intricate patterns into a tree near the gate of the village, grumbling something about how long his team was taking and other bored whatnots. The Nara boy sighed slightly, watching as his teacher waved lamely at him to acknowledge Shikamaru's presence, and then simply went back to chipping away at the bark with his peculiarly shaped kunai. The surprising thing was just how intricate the pattern was; Shikamaru didn't recognize half of the characters that Naruto-sensei had carved into the spaces in between the concentric rings, nor the ones radiating off from the center, though he loosely recognized the multi-bar hexagram carved into the center, though he was hardly an expert in that. It was remarkably complex for graffiti.

He heard Naruto mumble something about the chakra coefficient being moderately unstable compared to the required load based upon array perimeters, and immediately felt that his initial estimation of the young jounin had been both correct and radically off at the same time. The young Nara boy's attentions were diverted as his first teammate arrived. He gave Hinata a small smile as she arrived, which she returned in her own timid way; she'd made progress around her teammates, managing to quickly step out and become more comfortable around them, to a degree. Shikamaru's easygoing nature helped, and Sasuke's barely hidden contempt had given way to either well-hidden contempt or apathy, Shikamaru wasn't quite sure which yet.

Hinata, for her part, had also exchanged the half-shuffle she often had fallen into for a quiet but fuller stride. She stood up straighter, sought eye contact more often, and generally made an impression of greater confidence. She was still a timid sort, but at the very least the adjectives used to describe her had been toned back in severity; more a somewhat than an extremely. Her poor performance had begun to rise as well, better rounding out the team. When Shikamaru was being honest with himself, he could admit she'd likely beat him in a taijutsu fight, and genjutsu as well. Not that those had been subjects he'd ever excelled at, or would have had he put the effort in, but it was a step. She was no Sasuke, but Shikamaru wasn't sure that was actually a bad thing.

There was a small thunk as Naruto-sensei threw the kunai at the center of the pattern he'd been carving and sighed dejectedly. The expression was gone by the time he'd turned around, the standard beamy personality that made Shikamaru worry and Hinata blush replacing it as he made his way over to the pair of genin.

"Hey, guys! Bout time you showed up, I was beginning to wonder what was keepin' yah. Though seems like Sasuke is taking his sweet time," Naruto said, crossing his arms and making a humorous pouting face. Hinata simply giggled, bringing a grin to the young man's face. Shikamaru had noticed that their teacher had a habit of doing that; flirty, perhaps, which might have been a bit odd had Shikamaru not also noticed that he seemed to be doing it without any sort of real romantic intent; he simply enjoyed making people smile, and had apparently stumbled upon one such way with the young Hyuuga girl.

Shikamaru wasn't sure if Naruto's attempts to get the Hyuuga to smile and come out of her shell were entirely intentional, though he'd a feeling that they were at least, in part, something he was consciously doing. Smart though he was, Shikamaru was still working with incomplete information when it came to his female teammate. He'd gathered her home life was somewhat less then friendly; her personality and behavior alone would have told him that. The fact that she was a member of the main family and yet was also a shinobi, however, tended to tell him even more; the Hyuuga were very protective of their gift, and it was almost unheard of for main family members to join the ranks of the Konoha shinobi, for whatever reason. Again, he was working with incomplete information; a puzzle with only half of the pieces. It was all so very troublesome.

He noticed that Tazuna seemed to be far more interested in his bottle than his escorts; that the old man was drinking this early rubbed Shikamaru the wrong way, but he had little more to question it other than that feeling he got; the hunch that this was going to be even more troublesome than he'd expected. Unfortunately for him, those feelings tended to be accurate. Shikamaru simply let out another sigh and looked to the sky, only to find it unfairly clear yet again. It just wasn't fair.

'Well,' he thought, settling in for the wait, 'whining about it is far too troublesome anyway.'

**Δ**

Sasuke showed up not long after, wordlessly falling into position as Naruto quickly headed out the gates of the village. The Uchiha had to give his teacher some small measure of credit; he was quick to order them into a standard escort formation, taking up the position of rear guard and placed their client, the old man who seemed like he had bathed in sake, in the middle. It was also nice to have some recognition of ability when he was placed as the point man of the formation. Of course, all the credit Sasuke was beginning to give to Naruto was once again dashed fairly quickly mere moments after they'd left and fallen in formation.

"Aaaaaalright!" Naruto shouted suddenly, pumping his arm into the sky. His face morphed into his trademarked wide smile as he folded his arms behind his head, completely abandoning any premise of diligence or decorum as a shinobi. "Finally out of the village! It's been way too long, dattebayo!"

True to their natures, each member of the little group reacted more or less as you'd expect. Shikamaru simply sighed, muttering about what a troublesome drag this was. Hinata brought her hand to her mouth to mask the small giggle she sported whenever Naruto acted so free and silly. Tazuna simply stared at him, remembering all too painfully that statement that you get what you pay for. And Sasuke? Sasuke exploded.

"You loser, can't you act like a ninja and not some sort of stupid kid for once in your life?" he shouted, hands balling into fists. Naruto just gave him the queerest look, and then came his second trademarked look, that false pout that made Hinata giggle even more than usual.

"Ah, lighten up, Sasuske! Is that any way to talk to your sensei?" Naruto said with a wave of his finger; Sasuke's entire body shook before letting out a huff and turning back around, heading forward and necessitating the rest of the group to pick up the pace just to keep up. "Just enjoying myself, you know? You should too! This is going to be great!"

**Ε**

"God, this is so _booooooring_!" Naruto exclaimed, hands ringing through his hair as he attempted to vent his pent up frustration. The rest of the team looked back at him with various degrees of exasperation, even the usually amused Hinata had a touch of it mixed in with her usual giggling. They'd been traveling for a few days; Konoha was located in the center of the Land of Fire, and the shores that they'd charter a boat to take them to the Land of Waves were obviously into the far east of this. A ninja team could travel at much higher speeds, particularly if they took to trees or other such methods of travel, but with the client in tow the mission became a longer term assignment. Naruto was beginning to think Itachi had given him it out of spite.

It was around noon or so, given the position of the sun in the sky. The road was somewhat indistinct; one tree was very much similar to the last hundred they'd seen, and the fields didn't seem much better. It was all very tranquil and serene and soul-soothing, but it was, admittedly, absolutely and unequivocally boring. The team's minds began to drift as they walked. Shikamaru, of all people, was the most seemingly alert; the lack of clouds once again haunted him, and as such he had little reason to watch the sky. Besides, he could sometimes find something interesting in the world. Hinata seemed to be watching their teacher more than anything, and Tazuna simply watched the bottom of bottle; Sasuke was wondering where the hell the man was keeping all of them, or if perhaps the bridge-builder simply had a magically endless bottle of sake.

Sasuke made no attempt to scold the jounin about the outburst; he already was angry about his lack of self-control in the first place. Of course, the thought that he shouldn't really blame himself had crossed his mind. His teacher was hardly the easiest person to deal with, particularly when one had to train under him. Very much like talking to a brick wall, and about as smart, it would seem. Perhaps there was something relevant in that; blunt head trauma from slamming his head into a wall too much when he was a child? What followed would be a struggle through the adversity of being mentally deficient yet willful enough to climb the shinobi ranks. After all, it had been a war; Konoha needed everyone they could get. Yes, that would be quite logical. Naruto was just a damn retard.

While that theory was certainly amusing, Sasuke of course knew better. It wasn't the first time he'd recognized the eccentricities of a shinobi. Part of him wondered if that was a universal trait, a side-effect of the hardships of the ninja career, or if it was a trait unique to Konoha. As much as it pained him to admit it, Naruto often seemed to be fairly tame when it came to some of the eccentricities of other shinobi, particularly jounin-ranked sensei. That made sense; the longer you were in the service, the weirder you'd get. Sasuke realized with a flash of horror that this meant Naruto was likely to get _worse_ as time went on; he suppressed a groan. Shaking that thought from his head, he drifted back to his own reactions; he had let himself go, and that was bad. Sometimes he wondered how Itachi did it. Sasuke often felt his emotions tight like whipcord, ready to snap. Itachi never seemed to have that problem.

'Not even that night.' Sasuke thought grimly, a scowl unconsciously forming on his face. It was not a happy memory by any stretch, watching his brother walk out of the house, sword wet with their father's blood. The blood had seemed black in the twilight. Itachi's face had been as stony as the hokage monument. Sasuke wanted to imagine tears glistening in the corners of his eyes when he was younger, but idealism of that sort died young for Sasuke.

And then Naruto was torn in half.

Sasuke reacted on instinct and muscle memory. His mind registered only after he was moving that his teacher had just been shredded by a chain that appeared to have been forged from shuriken. It was to his credit that his mind latched onto the latter portion of that statement rather than the former. Both wore gasmasks that covered up half of their faces. One wore a black tunic that appeared to have ragged cuts in the side for arm holes, revealing what appeared to be wrapped bandages beneath it. The other wore a tan vest and a camouflaged shirt beneath it, as well as a truly impressive collection of pouches lining his belt. Both had massive matching gauntlets, one of the pair wearing one on the left arm, the other on the right, and a shuriken-shaped chain running between them. The enemies were, of course, shinobi. Sasuke recognized the mark of Kirigakure no Sato, Village Hidden in the Mists, on their peculiarly horned hitai-ite.

Missing-nin, or hired for a contract, much like Team 7? There was little time to consider loyalties as the two foes continued their attack. They rushed forward towards Shikamaru with a savage gleam in their eyes. The genin was forming hand signs, but time was hardly his ally. He knew it, they knew it, and an expression of quiet acceptance seemed to form on his face, as if it was far to bothersome to even get angry about his impending death.

That expression morphed into a lopsided grin as a sharp metallic sound grated on the ears of all those present. The attackers looked back, shocked to find a well aimed kunai pinning their chain to the ground. Their eyes darted back, widening in shock as they found one of their target's escorts balancing himself on their gauntleted arms. To their credit they reacted as fast as could be expected of them, chain releasing and shooting back into their gauntlets as they tore themselves forward. Sasuke leapt from his perch, spinning in the air to avoid a wide swipe and then twisting to push off another, sending himself flying away from the pair.

Sasuke hit the dirt road softly, throwing up a small dust cloud as he skid backwards. The enemy was already in motion, and so was Sasuke. The Konoha genin realized he'd lost track of his teammates in the scuffle; Shikamaru had extracted himself fairly well once Sasuke bought him time enough to do so. Sasuke's eye caught a glimpse of the Nara boy grabbing a kunai from his pouch and assuming a defensive stance in front of their client. It was a smart move; he wasn't exactly a benefit in a close fight like this. Sasuke grudgingly admitted that Hinata might have been, but he couldn't see the pale-eyed girl and hadn't exactly the time to look around to find her.

The enemy ninja were still moving and fighting in formation. Sasuke realized with a flash of pride that they were attacking him and not the bridge-builder, the only logical target amongst them, because he was the greatest extant threat to them. Not wanting to disappoint, he threw himself forward, slipping between a combined attack where one swung high and the other low as they rushed. He spun his body as he leapt through the gap in their strike. He tossed trio of shuriken from each of his hands, but the enemy were hardly pushovers. They spun back around, using their large gauntlets to intercept the incoming missiles. Sasuke hit the ground with his shoulder and rolled back, coming up in a ready stance.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted with a grin. He launched himself at the pair again, locking them in a swirling maelstrom of combat. The Uchiha spent a great deal of time avoiding their wide blows; the pair favored their gauntlet arms, and with good reason. He'd drawn a kunai, hoping to get a debilitating blow early, but he'd been disappointed to find that they were hardly pushovers and were blocking any attempt he made to jab the short weapon into them; apparently they valued their organs and wanted to keep them in working order, the greedy bastards. A part of him realized that this was a bad situation; they has twice the number of chances to strike him, odds favored them getting lucky before him.

And then suddenly he was fighting only one of them. The melee ceased for just a moment as Sasuke and the shinobi wearing the tan vest watched his partner impact with a tree, crumpling over afterward; the tree, an old oak at least four feet across, was cracked. Their eyes tracked the path of motion, finding a very angry looking Hyuuga resting in her combat stance. The fingers on her forward hand folded down and palm thrust out, and she was panting from exertion; whatever she'd done had not been easy on the genin. The remaining foe's eyes widened, and even Sasuke was forced to raise an eyebrow in shock. Hinata, on the other hand, was staring at the remaining enemy with murder in her eyes; her killing intent spiked and Sasuke knew it was a good time to move. He spun back as Hinata began pulling her arm forward, taking a single long step forward as she forced her rear arm out with a sudden jerk, her palm flat like the first. The enemy, eyes still wide with fright, barely had time to grunt as a wave of force picked him up and tossed him like a ragdoll. He impacted the same tree, which gave way and fell, to the luck of the two enemy ninja, back in the forest instead of on top of them.

She collapsed to her knees after that, making a noise that Sasuke thought was her gasping for air. Sasuke just stared at her for a long moment, wondering what she had just done, and realizing what he thought was gasping was really a combination of sobbing and wheezing. He was about to open his mouth when a voice he hadn't expected to hear again cut him off.

"Wow, that was impressive!" Naruto said, drawing his students gaze up to one of the high branches of yet another oak tree. He grinned mischievously for a moment but frowned when his eyes came to rest on Hinata, who looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. For a short moment, he saw an image of another girl there, dressed in formal robes and her hitai-ite covering a mark on her head, rather than hanging from her neck. Naruto shook his head, banishing the thought from his mind as he dropped down from his perch and into the midst of the group. Hinata pushed off and threw her arms around him, sobbing into his green jounin vest.

Sasuke's head snapped over to where he'd seen the blond-haired jounin get torn to shreds, but was shocked to find the shattered remains of what had once been a log. Sasuke realized he should have expected a jounin to use kawarimi. He'd underwritten Naruto's skill based upon his attitude. Sasuke's teeth ground somewhat at the realization.

"You guys did good. Sasuke, good work on intercepting them and keeping them occupied. Shikamaru was right to go into a defensive stance. And Hinata…" Naruto said, pausing to look down at the girl. She was still sobbing slightly, but blushing now as well. "She did good. Real good. You're getting better, Hinata. Good job."

She pulled away from him of her own accord, head bowed but a smile on her face. She didn't trust her voice enough to talk. Her chest hurt, and not just from the massive amount of chakra she had spent on her techniques. Naruto gave her another smile, causing the blush on her face to deepen, before he turned towards their client and sighed.

"Alright, ojii-san, I think we need to have a bit of a talk," Naruto said, folding his arms across his chest as he did, attempting to pull off his version of a Very Stern Look. Tazuna seemed to get the picture, and was more than willing to answer any and all questions that Naruto had for him. He told him all about Gatou and his goons, and all about how the bridge was the last best hope for his homeland. Tazuna prepared to lay it on thick, but was shocked to find that Naruto simply shrugged after he finished his tale.

"Right, well, let's get moving. Well, after we tie up the goons, I guess," he said, turning to his genin. He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a scroll, and flipped it open without much fanfare. A quick few handseals as it hung and the surprised members of Team 7 watched as he pulled out a reel of heavy-gauge wire. He tossed the wire to Sasuke, grinning as the boy caught it, stared at it, muttered a Hn and then went to work.

"Wait. You're not mad?" Tazuna said, and then cursed his big mouth. Naruto didn't even turn, fingers flying through another set of seals.

"Nah, you broke some rules, but I get where you're coming from, even if you were stupid about it. These guys were chuunin, at least. Not exactly what you're supposed to send genin against. But its ok, they handled it even better than I expected," Naruto said, hand slamming the ground and causing a burst of white smoke. The small cloud faded to reveal a small orange toad wearing a navy vest. Shikamaru and Hinata watched the whole thing with more surprise; both at their sensei's nonchalant attitude and his praise of them.

"Yo," Gamakichi said with a wave of his webbed arm. Naruto reached into his bag and tossed the frog a small bag of chips.

"Ah, you read my mind, sempai. Whatcha need?" the little toad said as he popped the bag and began to much on the contents. Naruto acted like this was the most natural thing in the world.

"Just need you to send a message back to Konoha. Got a couple defeated ninja that need a pick up. Tell Itachi," Naruto replied, jerking his finger back to where Sasuke was finishing up a fairly elaborate job with the wire. The enemy shinobi were out cold, and likely injured, but Naruto hadn't the time or desire, or ability really, to check how severely; their group had no medical-nin, though it was likely that one of their team would eventually undergo some training. Tsunade Baa-Chan would pound him into the dust if he let her down like that, after all.

"Righto, sempai, I'll get right on it!" he said, turning and hopping off at maximum speed, using chakra to enhance his jumps to massive distances. Naruto smiled. Good ol' Gamakichi. Naruto had known him since he was a tadpole.

"Alright!" the jounin exclaimed, pirouetting on his heel and pointing down the road. "No time to waste; let's get _ojii-san back to the bridge!"_

He took off walking at top pace for a moment, realization dawning on him as he did. He turned back to see that the rest of his team hadn't moved an inch. Sasuke had finished with the wire and tucked it into his pouch; Naruto hadn't asked for it back, after all. He did seem a bit confused why they weren't following, though.

"What's wrong, guys?" he said with a quirk of the eyebrow. Hinata, eyes now dry, giggled at his consternation. Sasuke just shook his head. It was Shikamaru who spoke up, jerking his finger in the opposite direction that Naruto had been heading.

"Uh, sensei? The Land of Waves would be that way."

**Ζ**

Shikamaru had been faced with a brand new puzzle, and for the life of him he couldn't solve it. He'd been mulling over his teachers behavior. For the past few days he'd been deep in thought; he'd had the time, after all. After the little event with the pair of unknown kiri-nin they hadn't run into any more trouble. All signs pointed to the pair being rogue ninja hired by the Gatou figure, a fact that did not bode well for this mission. Despite Naruto's apparent confidence in his young students, Shikamaru wasn't. He would be the first to point out his flaws and deficiencies, and he was certainly not going to hesitate in pointing out those of his teammates. He hadn't even been fast enough on his handseals to catch the two missing-nin; the fact that it was noon and shadows were scarce wasn't helping either. Sasuke's words on that first day, about being strong enough to be lazy, came back to him. The young boy frowned at the thought.

Of course, this was not the puzzle he'd been faced with. No, that was just a distraction from the real issue; although he'd always expected it, evidence was beginning to pile up that Naruto was not just an abnormally skilled young man who still acted like a kid. Instead, Shikamaru was quickly coming to the conclusion that he was doing it on purpose; hell, that wasn't even the issue, as Shikamaru had always suspected Naruto-sensei was more than met the eye. The Nara boy was more or less certain it _was _an act of sorts. His problem was the question of _why. _The two options there were that he was attempting to make people underestimate him on purpose, and if that was the case Shikamaru was wondering how dedicated did he have to be to live like that. Of course, the other options that it was only half-way true; he really was that way, but out of choice. The subtle difference may seem insignificant, but to Shikamaru they were as different as night and day.

Either Naruto Namikaze was the best actor, and the best liar, that Shikamaru had ever known, or was simply a remarkably well-adjusted person. Given his age, he had to have fought in the last war; it was more or less a given. Shikamaru knew that war changed people; not out of personal experience, of course, but that was a given, wasn't it? Everyone knew that. Hell, look at how weird his father was; that could not have been natural. Shikamaru sighed.

'So Naruto is either so dedicated to deceiving a potential enemy that he lives his life this way, or he's chosen to really be that nice,' he thought, staring up at the still-clear sky. 'And yet competent at the same time, in his own way. This is just too troublesome.'

**Η**

Shikamaru was not the only member of Team 7 with a lot on their mind. Hinata was also lost in thought; the pale eyed Hyuuga girl had been following the trail with only the barest amount of focus. It wasn't a particularly narrow path, nor winding, and she made good use of this fact to spend her time mulling over the encounter with the kiri-nin. It still made her chest tight to remember watching what she'd thought was Naruto-sensei get torn in half. She had gone through four mental states in quick succession after that; the first had been shock, which gave way very quickly into an unbearable sadness. She wasn't entirely sure why; certainly, he was her teacher and very nice to her, but she felt as though something had been torn from her. That safe feeling she felt when she was around him had vanished, replaced with an empty void. Of course, that empty void quickly was filled with something: rage.

The Hakke Koushou was not a particularly difficult technique; it was grounded in the basic principles of Juuken, and in truth was simply a fragment of a number of far more powerful techniques. Hinata, despite lacking the natural aptitude of some of the other members of her family, was knowledgeable about almost all of these techniques; even if she was unable to perform them, she was expected to understand them all, and be able to perform their motions. Despite having long been left to the care of Kurenai-san, she still remembered those early lessons. Not that she'd ever thought she'd use them.

But after watching Naruto-sensei hurt like that she felt herself almost move without a thought. The moves were simple, they came to her without any effort, and although it hurt to summon up all the chakra required to perform it she simply was too focused on hurting those that had taken Naruto from her to care. She'd punished them for their actions; she would have killed them, she realized, had He not shown up again. And it might have killed her too, a fact that shocked her to think about.

But he had shown up, and the rage faded into joy. She'd thrown herself at him out of reflex, grabbing onto him and not wanting to let go. And he'd praised her. He told her she did good, great even. She was getting better, he'd said. It wasn't a particularly original praise, she knew; Kurenai had told the the same things. But, something about the way Naruto said it. And the way he had looked at her. It made her happy inside, and it made her believe it.

She blushed again at the memory her boldness. She could still hear him saying her name. She felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her from from her momentary reverie.

"Hinata, you in there?" Naruto asked with a chuckle, causing the young girl to blush. She realized he must have been calling her for some time. She had let her focus slip that much?

"S-sorry, sensei. I was distracted," she said, cursing herself for her stuttering. Naruto simply laughed.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed," he said, scratching the back of his head for a moment. She stood up straighter for a moment, cheeks still flushed.

"Anyway! Can you check over by that tree there?" he asked, motioning towards a copse of trees. She realized, suddenly, that they'd apparently come to the shoreline, though something in her mind told her it was actually a pond or lake, based on the lack of waves. Naruto was pointing off in the distance. Hinata understood his meaning, whispering the name of her family kekkei genkai as she formed the seal. The world shifted and changed for a moment, though she'd long gotten over the disorientation that it could bring. Focusing her unqiue vision to the spot she was surprised to find one of Naruto-sensei's strange three-pronged kunai embedded into a tree. The ground was damp and littered with the typical debris of a forest floor.

"A-ano, sensei. I see one of your kunai, but that's it," Hinata said, looking back to him with confusion. His expression was distant for a moment. Sasuke scoffed.

"Jumpy, _sensei_?" he said, letting a bit of sarcasm slip into his voice as he said the title. Hinata frowned at him, but he didn't seemed to notice. Distantly, she heard a soft sound, like a whistling breeze that was growing louder.

"Get down!" Naruto shouted, throwing his arms around Hinata as he did. She felt disorientation unlike any other as her brain scrambled to catch up. Naruto was holding her almost bridal-style, clinging to surface of a tree. She expanded her field of view, noticing that they were clinging to the same tree that Naruto had thrown his kunai into. She watched as a massive blade, looking like an oversized cleaver, slammed into a tree. The rest of Team 7 had ducked down as the blade had came flying in, but Naruto apparently had somehow moved them out of the way almost instantly.

"Hmph, well isn't that impressive," a dark voice said. Hinata's eyes were drawn to the sword again, and she realized that there was now a man crouched on its long hilt, staring at the group with a predatory gleam. His face was masked by white bandages, and he had a hitai-ite worn sideways on his head. He was shirtless except for some sort of harness, with arm coverings of white and black camouflage and pinstriped navy pants. But it was his eyes that really drew her attention. Cold, dark, and sinister.

"Naruto Namikaze, Konoha's One-Man Army. My my, however did that sniveling bridge-builder afford you?" the voice said, grin evident beneath his wraps.

"Hmph, never thought I'd have to see your ugly face again," Naruto said with a wide grin. Hinata was surprised. Sensei knew this person?

"I'm surprised a brat like you even remembers me."

"Ah, well, I always remember the people whose butts I've kicked. Even you, Zabuza."

The missing-nin just grinned.

**Ω**

**Gaiden Α**

Sakura wasn't really sure which of the many eight million kamigami she had offended, or perhaps what other action she might have taken to earn a backlash of karma that she would be placed on a team such as this one. She watched them with open incredulity, her usually emotive self not taking a day off here. She was, after all, a very bubbly person. Was that it? She was so bubbly that she had gotten placed on a team with Chip Boy and Silent Bug Man, led by Chain Smoking Beard-face Man?

She had learned to make the most of it, as hard as that could be to imagine. It still wasn't fair; she should have gotten to be placed on Sasuke-kun's team, not on this bunch of rejects and losers. There was some irony in the fact that the one girl who didn't seem to be head-over-heels for her beloved Sasuke-kun had gotten placed on a team with him, though she had a massive fear that she'd come to her senses when she was around him for so long. That said, she wasn't even all that impressive, and neither was that lazy-bones Shikamaru. Ino had told her ALL about him.

That was one benefit, she supposed; with neither her nor Ino placed onto a team with their Sasuke-kun they'd sort of fallen back into a comfortable friendship. Best friends for ever, and all that junk. Of course, in this case, forever was defined at "until one of them got a date with Sasuke." Still, it was nice to have someone to talk to again, and someone to complain about their teams with. But Ino didn't have it _nearly_ as bad as she did; at least Ino-pig had a female sensei! And she certainly didn't have to put up with the likes of Shino and Chouji.

They'd spent the morning doing a simple mission, clearing some old brush from a local merchant's manor, and that hadn't taken long at all; gross thought it was, Shino's bugs seemed quite adept at breaking down the material, and Chouji's ability to sweep away vast portions of the landscape with his creepy expand-o-matic body was also quite nice. Sakura found herself actually feeling a bit useless and took to simply following behind and picking up what they missed. It felt like cheating a bit.

Team 10 had finished in record time, causing Asuma-sensei to give them extra time for lunch before they started some drills and other training. They'd all prepared lunches for the day; Chouji, of course, had the largest of all. Shino sat there with a, surprisingly, similar sized lunch. Hers was far smaller. Of course, she soon after didn't want any of it at all.

Things had gone sour when she found out just why Shino had brought such a large lunch. It started off innocent enough; a bug or two flitted around. Unfortunately, that became a seething mass as bugs appeared almost out of nowhere, grabbing portions of the food and chowing down right next to Shino. It was almost enough to make her sick. But no, that hadn't been the issue. The issue had come up when she brought a rice ball to her mouth, only to find one of Shino's bug perched on top of it. She stared at it for a long moment, crosseyed, before tossed it away with a fit of disgust.

Even that might have been okay, but then Chouji asked if she was going to eat that. She stared at him with an incredulous look before shoving the rest of her meal away and storming off.

Why her?

**Gaiden Ω**

**Author Note:**  
I know many people take it as a point of pride to avoid doing the Wave Arc, as to avoid being 'cliched' or simply rehash an old story, but I think that it's a valuable arc that can be still salvaged if you execute it well. I felt that, given the difference in teams, it would be a valuable tool to show some synergy, as well as introduce a few other choice changes. Most notably is the fact that Haku is nowhere to be found in Wave, and Suigetsu has taken his place.

I don't intend to spend more than one or two more chapters in the Wave Arc. After that, I might do a single set-up chapter before moving into the chuunin exams arc, which I can assure you are going to be vastly different than canon. I leave for Basic on the 14th as I said so you're pretty much going to have to wait till March when I get back so see the thrilling conclusions ;P. Of course, when I DO, I promise new chapters, as well as a rewrite of around the Pack Light chapters I most dislike. Currently, Pack Light is on hiatus as I focus on Naruto-sensei.

Also, there was a reference to a fantastic story by the name of People Lie, by Nugar, in this chapter. I recommended it who enjoys good Naruto fiction, though be expecting a far darker and more adult world in general.

Oh, and I almost forgot. The technique Hinata used was the Hakke Koushou, or Eight Trigrams Empty Palm. Essentially a blast of chakra and air pressure uses principles fairly common to Gentle Fist moves, hence why Hinata was able to pull it off this early, albeit at the cost of most of her chakra.

Again, reviews are much appreciated; love to see what people think of the story.


	6. Part 1, Chapter 6

**Α**

"It's been quite some time since we last met in the Land of Rivers. Well well, it's a small world after all, I suppose," Zabuza said, still perched on the hilt of his massive blade. He eyed the young blond jounin closely, eyes filling with a predatory gleam. It was the look of a hunter who had at long last encountered 'one of the ones that got away,' and Zabuza was a hunter, one of the best. A prize like this was simply too good to be true.

"Maybe, but you certainly seem to have lowered your standards. You used to be a loser working for a bigger loser, now you're a loser working for a little loser. One of the Seven Swordsmen reduced to a petty thug. Pretty pathetic, you know?" Naruto replied, grinning madly even as Zabuza's face twisted into anger. "Though, then again, you got whipped by a _chuunin_ before, too, so it's not that much of a stretch, I guess."

"There aren't many A-rank chuunin, now are there?" Zabuza said back, voice mostly level despite his obvious frustration. Naruto's genin students snapped their eyes to him, stunned by such a revelation. Their teacher had been considered A-class when he was a chuunin? What did that make him now, given he was a jounin and war hero? However, their wonder was cut short as Zabuza continued.

"And even fewer that have the secrets you have," he said, savage grin twisting beneath his mask. Naruto's student's shock at Zabuza's previous statement turned into shock at their teacher's sudden change in expression; Naruto was sporting a mix of anger and worry, two things that the three young genin could not ever remember seeing on their sensei's face.

"You don't know what you're talking about," the Konoha jounin replied in a half snarl, causing Zabuza's savage grin to grow.

"They call me the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and you the One-Man Army, but you're a demon of another sort: the Red Demon of Konoha. Very few people can say they know why you're called that," the mist-nin continued, pausing for a moment afterward and letting his eyes wander. The children seemed unimpressive, particularly the Hyuuga girl that Naruto had whisked away. Unable to evade even a simple and quite obvious attack like that? What weaklings were Konoha producing these days? How could a village that produced such monsters as the White Fang or Yellow Flash or the Professor go downhill so fast, particularly after being led by someone like Itachi? Zabuza had heard all about the young hokage and his rise to power, and had felt even a sort of kindred spirit to the man, but what could he be doing if this was the result of his reign?

"Your team leaves something to be desired, Naruto. These are supposed to be shinobi? I doubt they know the first thing about being shinobi," Zabuza said with disgust, earning a look of bloody murder from Sasuke.

"Who the hell do you think you are talking like that, you big freak?" the young Uchiha snapped, hands hovering over his weapons pouch as he did. Zabuza did not reply instantly, standing up instead on the hilt of his sword. The brutish kiri-nin murmured something that Sasuke didn't catch, but caused Naruto to react with singular intent. He pushed off the tree and skid to a halt next to the bridge builder, setting a still slightly-blushing Hinata down as he assumed his fighting stance.

"Well that one has some spirit at least, but that doesn't make him a shinobi," Zabuza said as a thick misty fog began to roll in out of nowhere, rising up from the water and flowing in from all around. The swordsman began to fade into the distance, but his voice persisted, seeming to come from all around the group as it did.

Hinata joined her place in the triangle formation her teammates had assumed around the bridge builder. It was an effective, if basic and simple, formation; Naruto had not neglected the basics despite his desire to move on to teaching 'cooler things.' Much to his chagrin, Naruto found that without those often boring and simple things, the cooler stuff just didn't make sense to his young wards. Thus, Naruto had taken great strides in teaching all the fundamentals to his team, or at least the start of them. That way, when they had that down, they could move on to far more interesting and cool things.

The ex-Kiri-nin watched with only the barest amount of bemusement. Their coordination was effective, to a degree, but it was obvious to him who the weak links were. And, of course, they all were weak links to him; these three couldn't even hope to match up to a shinobi like him. They couldn't even match up to his young companion or apprentice, or whatever someone might call him. And with Naruto having to focus on defending them, that would make this fight even easier if, admittedly, somewhat less fulfilling. But business was business.

"A shinobi has to know how to take a life. These weaklings don't look like they can hurt a fly. They may hold a kunai, but do they know what it's like to feel it pierce into a man's neck, to feel the life ebb away from their target, or watch as his crimson life spills from that wound? I think not," the dark and malicious voice said. "In the Village Hidden in the Mist, we learn this early. To earn our hitae-ite, we are forced to take the life of one of our classmates."

"The Bloody Mist... but you did quite a bit more than that, though, you freak. You really earned your name..." Naruto murmured, earning a feral chuckle from the foe.

"Well, I wanted to graduate early. Killing off a few classes above me seemed like a good way to prove I was ready," Zabuza replied, causing the genin of Team 7, even Sasuke, to blanch; he'd killed off entire classes? It was terrifying to even consider, and that was written all over their faces. They had thought that the graduation requirement alone was terrible, but for this... _thing _to have killed so many just because? What sort of monster was he?

"If they're reacting like that, then they've got a long way to go to even barely being considered real ninja. Pathetic," he continued, earning another snap from Naruto. His team could barely follow what happened next.

"Alright, that's it!" their sensei had said, fingers beginning to form a series of seals. "Enough badmouthing my team!"

And then Zabuza was inside the formation, massive blade swinging down to take out all three genin and Tazuna with one single sweep. Naruto reacted just as quickly, abandoning whatever technique he'd been forming, snapping an arm out and letting a lash of chakra burst forth. The raw chakra quickly took form, turning into a series of glowing chain links and wrapping themselves through the hole in the massive cleaving blade Zabuza was wielding. Naruto yanked the blade back, catching Zabuza unawares and causing the massive blade to cut into the soft earth as Naruto redirected its path downward.

"You'll have to to do better than that," Naruto said eagerly, watching as his team took the necessary steps and took their elderly charge back, adjusting their formation as they moved. It was a damn good movement, if he did say so himself. And he did. He had trained them, after all, and they were moving like a team. He couldn't help but smile as a strange idea slipped into his mind. A dangerous and strange idea, some others might note, but Naruto was hardly some others by any estimation.

The swordsman grunted in a combination of amusement and anger, tearing his massive sword back. Naruto released the technique, causing the chains to dissipate. The pair stared at each other for a moment, eyes locked and muscles coiled. Naruto's team watched with fascination; this was the first time they'd seen their sensei actually fight, after all. And then, without warning, Naruto jumped back and Zabuza faded away, disappearing into the thick mist.

"An interesting trick," Zabuza said with a chuckle, voice echoing through the clearing. "But it's one I've seen before already."

"Same with you, loser! Still hiding like a coward, can't you fight like a real man for once?" Naruto goaded, fingers forming into a rude gesture that caused Hinata to blush furiously. Silence reigned for a moment, continuing even as the mist began to suddenly dissipate. Zabuza stood, his massive blade held low to the ground, yet hovering above it despite its size and weight. He stood on the edge of the water, eyes filled with a mix of hate and anticipation. Naruto returned the look and took off sprinting.

"Finally decided to come out? It's about damn time!" the blond jounin shouted, launching a barrage of shuriken from seemingly nowhere. The razor-sharp projectiles were launched with precision and force, augmented by a flurry of summoned wind, but bounced impotently against the surface of Zabuza's blade as the missing-nin brought it up in defense. This was, of course, the intent; busy the blade to prevent its use as Naruto closed the distance between the two. It bought him only seconds, but in a battle of shinobi, particularly ones of this caliber, seconds were sacred.

Naruto, true to his nature, struck first. A kunai that he hadn't had a moment before sparked as it ground against Zabuza's weapon, the large man having shifted his weapon over to deflect the strike. Naruto followed up with a series of strikes, pressing the advantage of his smaller weapon and nullifying the advantages of his opponents much larger one; by closing the gap fast, he had rendered the larger weapon a liability as it was unable to use its reach or weight due to the closeness of the combatants. The smaller and faster Konoha-nin pressed Zabuza backwards, slowly but surely. To all but one watching it seemed as though Zabuza was simply outmatched.

Shikamaru, being that one, was not so easily convinced. Zabuza was clearly a skilled shinobi, one that even his teacher, a ninja whose skills had been both shockingly revealed and slowly deduced by the young Nara, showed some degree of recognition for. And, of course, he was a missing-nin; that was an occupation that was rarely survived for long unless you had considerable skill or were simply too unimportant to chase. Given his sensei had also said that Zabuza was one of the Seven Swordsmen, that likely made him the former rather than the latter. Shikamaru had no idea who the Seven Swordsmen were, but given the title and verbal capitalization that sensei had used he assumed it was something of note.

So, if that all was true, why did this Zabuza seem like so much of a pushover? It wasn't until Naruto-sensei had pressed him back to the point that they were fighting on water that it clicked for the young Nara.

"Sensei, look out, he-!" was all Shikamaru managed before his prediction became reality; a burst of water surrounded his teacher, and when it settled Naruto was trapped inside a sphere of water, struggling against extreme pressure, and angry as hell.

"Hmph, still young and foolish, it seems," Zabuza said, his one hand holding the water prison in place. "You'll make a tidy profit, in addition to the one I'm getting for this job. But your genin are worthless, so I'll simply have to dispose of them."

"You bastard, let me out of here and fight! Coward! Don't you dare touch my team!" Naruto shouted, struggling weakly against the watery bonds. Zabuza just chuckled as he formed a single seal with his free hand, exhibiting an unbelievable level of control as a pillar of water rose from the slowly rolling waves, slowly assuming a humanoid shape as it did. Naruto let out a string of curses as the mizu bunshin took full form, shaping into a perfect replica of the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

"Get out of here!" Naruto shouted, watching helplessly as the clone moved to the shoreline and advanced on his team. The three stubbornly held their ground.

"No way, Naruto. I'm going to show this guy not to underestimate me," Sasuke said with a savage grin, settling into an aggressive stance and dropping his backpack. The young Uchiha was still burning from the earlier insult, and there was no way he'd let that go unpunished; his pride as a shinobi and an Uchiha demanded that. Abandoning his position in the formation, the young ninja launched himself at the water clone, fingers flying as he moved. Zabuza just laughed.

The resulting fight shattered more than Sasuke's pride; it also just about shattered his bones. He'd attempted to draw upon his katon jutsu, but his fire abilities were of little use against a clone made of water. Hinata joined him, attempting to work somewhat in tandem with her teammate, but that hadn't done much for their success either. Sasuke found himself once again slumped against a tree, head spinning as he tried to figure out how they hell they were going to get out of this, how the hell he'd managed to see Zabuza's attack, and how the hell Naruto had been such a loser to have been caught like this anyway! He was still at a loss for answers when he heard something he hadn't expected.

"Hey Sasuke, catch!" Shikamaru shouted, catching the Uchiha's attention for a moment. The Nara boy had been 'defending' their client for the majority of the fight, knowing better than to get mixed up in a taijutsu fight of this caliber; he couldn't match Hinata, he certainly wasn't going to match Zabuza, clone or not. Instead, he dedicated his time to trying to puzzle out a solution for this mess. It wasn't until he, by chance, noticed something strapped to the side of Sasuke's pack that he had even the slimmest of ideas. He rushed to retrieve the item, drawing on everything he had in hopes of making it work.

"Hinata!" was all Sasuke said as he caught the tossed object, the feel of it in his hand giving him all the information he needed on Shikamaru's daring plan. He slid back, unfurling the fuuma shuriken and doing something very strange; he trusted his teammates to do their part. And, rewarding him for his trust, they did just that. Hinata struggled up and launched another seemingly futile attack on the bunshin, but bought enough time for Sasuke to rev up and throw the massive shuriken.

"You'll have to do better than that, boy," Zabuza said derisively as the clone easily evaded the blade, but Sasuke kept grinning.

"Who said it was aimed for you?" he quipped, causing Zabuza to frown; the shuriken was indeed heading straight for him, but that was a simple thing. He pulled his legs up as it neared, letting the windmill of death fly beneath him harmlessly. What fools these genin where if they expected something like that to work. And then put his arms above his head an released the water prison.

Wait, he did what? It took a moment for Zabuza to realize he was not in control of his own body, long enough for the suddenly freed Naruto to push off from the surface of the water, flipping acrobatically through the air.

"Fuuton: Fuudan!" he said, just before launching off a hail of tiny darts of wind, the swirling projectiles tearing through the mizu bunshin with ease. The clone dissolved with a burst of water as the justu disrupted its integrity. The blond-haired jounin twisted mid jump, hands flying through another set of seals as he focused on the real Zabuza, still shocked at his inability to moved. The missing-nin struggled against his invisible bonds, finally breaking them just as Naruto unleashed his next technique.

"Fuuton: Fuurappa!" the jounin shouted, a wave of mighty wind launching itself out and catching Zabuza as he tried to leap back, tossing him like a ragdoll. He skid across the surface of the water, losing his focus to stay on its surface as he slowed down and rapidly sunk. Naruto landed and skid back, blue eyes scanning the surface of the water. He waited, chuckled, and then threw up his hand with an eager shout.

"Yeah, two for two, kicked your loser butt again, Zabuza!" he said. His team would have gone through their usual routine of amusement, confusion, and disgust had they not been so beat and exhausted. Hinata collapsed to her knees, Sasuke struggled to stand, and Shikamaru looked like he had just run a dozen and a half miles, hands still held up in his families signature seal.

"Good job, team! That was some great teamwork." Naruto continued, nodding sagely with his arms crossed across his chest. The three genin simply continued to stare as he spoke, "And you've finally unlocked your sharingan, Sasuke. Good going!"

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock, realizing for a moment that the world did seem very different, but in strangely subtle ways. His strange ability to guess Zabuza's moves suddenly became obvious, though he frowned; even seeing them, he hadn't been able to avoid them. Seeing was worthless if he wasn't fast enough to dodge. Still...

"So..." Shikamaru began, hands relaxing, still trying hard to catch his breath, "Why did you not just break out of the prison? We both know you could have done it at any time."

Sasuke and Hinata quickly turned to look between Shikamaru and their sensei, once again confused by the exchange. What did Shikamaru mean that sensei could have escaped? That made no sense...

"Should have known you'd notice, Shikamaru. You're right, I could have busted out, but that wouldn't have taught you anything."

"You put us in mortal danger to teach us a lesson?" Sasuke snapped, incredulous. Unexpectedly, Naruto simply sighed and looked away.

"It's true I'm responsible for you three, Sasuke, but I can't baby you," he began, staring off into the distance. "I was fighting for my life as a chuunin by your age. Thank god you don't have to experience that anymore, but I'm responsible for something more than just your safety: I'm responsible to turn you into shinobi that don't need protecting. You proved you can do that, and work as a team too. Shikamaru, that was dangerous to pour so much chakra into the weapon, but clever. You don't know much about chakra flow, but you seem to have picked up a bit watching me, am I right? Using that to extend your shadow technique must have taken a lot out of you. But it was clever. And you too, Sasuke, you understood just what was going on the moment you grabbed the weapon. And Hinata, you leaped right into it, running a screen without knowing anything about the plan. That's trust. You've all made me very proud, and I know I was not wrong in trusting you on this one."

He looked back at them and smiled. "Just think about it, alright? We need to get going."

It was an instruction that all three of them followed. Nothing more was said as they gathered up their equipment and once again began on their way.

**Β**

Zabuza pulled himself onto the surface of the water some distance away, having drifted on his own currents beneath the waves. The missing-nin dried himself with chakra, drawing the water off his body and away from him as a reflex. Hefting his massive sword, he returned it to it's place on his back. It was all reflex as he began walking towards his hideout, mind abuzz with a storm of emotions; he was shocked, angry, disappointed, and amazed at the same time.

He was angry that he'd underestimated his foe so much, particularly the little brat genin. They'd caught him off guard with a very dirty trick, very much like shinobi were supposed to do. Zabuza had thought of them as weaklings, but there was more to them that met the eye. Not too much more, but at least a bit.

He was disappointed in his performance; he'd let that blond-haired brat best him again, missed a chance at taking in his massive reward, and made a general fool of himself, being tricked by genin. It was a small thing, but hardly something he wanted to be spread around. That would be bad for his reputation, to be sure.

He was amazed that Naruto hadn't even bothered to draw on that amazing ability that had given his name; the kage bunshin was an amazing technique, and the One-Man Army hadn't gained his name for no reason. But Naruto hadn't bothered to even draw on it at all. That told the missing-nin that he was going to have to pull out all the stops for when they met again, and they would be meeting again very soon; Zabuza still had his contract, and as loathsome as he found this Gato character he simply couldn't pass up the money being offered. He would have to work for what he could get if he was ever going to restore Kirigakure no Sato.

"Sempai, you're not losing your edge, are you?" a young voice said, rising smoothly up from the water. A figure began to shift and move, rising up much like Zabuza's bunshin had, but with a key and fundamental difference.

"Hmph, Suigetsu. Find that entertaining, did you?" Zabuza asked, responding to Suigetsu's question with one of his own. He was unamused by his young kohai's antics; Suigetsu had been nearly caught. His hydration technique had allowed him to evade that kunai, but the slippery wannabe swordsman had sat and watched the proceedings without intervening. Zabuza watched the boy as he rose up from the water and formed a more full version of himself, snaggletoothed grin on his face.

Zabuza didn't trust Suigetsu as far as he could throw him; the boy was a self-serving sycophant, but admittedly a useful self-serving sycophant, and that was why Zabuza kept him around, for now. The missing-nin had no illusions that Suigetsu would turn on him the moment that it most benefited him; he desired Zabuza's blade for his own. Zabuza kept him around by proving himself stronger and also making sure to keep any sign of weakness away. This little spat with Naruto had damaged that.

"You'll be taking the genin next time. I'll be actually trying on the jounin this time, so I don't have time to be distracted by such flies," he said, and then leaped off without another word. Suigetsu watched him leave, stepping off onto the dry land and fingering the hilt of his weapon, a simple katana that he had no particular fondness for, and every intention of replacing before long. Perhaps sooner rather than later, given the circumstances.

Perhaps.

**Γ**

Team Seven moved as swiftly as possible, given their status; both Sasuke and Hinata were wounded from their hard-knock lesson from the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and Shikamaru was suffering from a case of chakra exhaustion that, while not life-threatening, would require some simple downtime for him to recover. Naruto was, as expected, hardly strained. He tended to their wounds with his limited knowledge of medical techniques, enough to make sure they'd heal up over time as long as they took things easy.

They moved through the countryside at a leisurely pace. Naruto no longer complained or goofed off, taking on a more serious attitude, for the most part; it was obvious to the more perceptive of the team that it was taking some effort to keep his normal self contained, but the effort was impressive regardless. He was acting very much like the high-class shinobi he was supposed to be. For Sasuke, it was an 'about time' moment. For Shikamaru, it brought only more questions to his puzzle-obsessed mind. For Hinata, it was just a little unnerving, but his active consideration and attentions brought a smile and blush to her face. And to Tazuna, it was simply enough to make him stop complaining and actually give the blond-haired jounin a bit of credit.

The five travelers arrived in the Land of Waves proper a handful of days later, strolling slowly on the beaten roads in grave need of repair and maintenance. Signs of older development long ago were obvious to the keen eyes of the ninja, but the sorry state of the country proper caught the foreign shinobi by surprise. Hinata was the most obviously disturbed by the run down buildings and seemingly soulless people who mulled about the town, but it had an effect on all members of the ground, even the native Tazuna.

The elderly mason led the four Konoha-nin to a small home near the outskirts of what had apparently once been a fishing suburb. Boats sat on the beach and tied to the docks, old nets hung from walls and posts, all showing distinct signs of their lack of use.

"Sensei, why does the village seem so... asleep?" Hinata asked quietly, catching Naruto somewhat off-guard. Silence had been the key for so long amongst the group, but even Naruto hadn't been sure how to break it. He was glad it had been her who had done so instead. That was progress, of a sort.

"Without a way to ship off their catch, what good is it fishing? Gatou has choked the life out of everything here." Tazuna said quickly, cutting Naruto off before he could render a similar reply. The young jounin simply nodded in his trademark way, attempting perhaps to appear more profound than he was.

"Mmhm, it's horrible is what it is. S'why we have to help ojii-san finish his project, you know? This," he said, swinging his arm in a wide arc, "is just plain wrong, believe it!"

**Δ**

Sasuke found the fact that he couldn't sleep to be something of a conundrum; he was certainly tired enough to simply collapse, and his body was sore in places he didn't know he had. Despite this he still could not seem to settle enough to actually rest, let alone sleep. It took a combination of extreme will and extreme pain to keep him from leaping up and going out to train. He wanted dearly to test the extents of his finally awakened sharingan, but had enough self-awareness to see that his chakra system was in no state to be exerted in the slightest. So, instead, he found himself wired, bored, and stuck doing the thing he did likely far more than he should: thinking,

He knew it was roughly three in the morning, based on his internal clock, a simple skill that became almost instinctive to most shinobi. Even in his exhausted state he could get a basic fix on it. The room around him was dark as was expected, but he could make out the twin shapes of his teammates illuminated by soft moonlight through a small window, curled up silently on their own futons along with the larger form of their teacher. Naruto was sprawled out, taking up twice as much space as he would have otherwise, blankets barely covering him as he snored. Sasuke once again found himself moderately disgusted by his teacher.

The young Uchiha took stock of Naruto and simply couldn't decide if he was supposed to be actually impressed or find him wanting. Facts were that Naruto was an often immature, impulsive, crude, and generally disappointing brat some times, hardly the battle-hardened war hero he'd been expecting from the stories. Even watching him sleep made this very apparent; he was loud and flailed about, hardly a becoming way to sleep for a shinobi. And yet, Sasuke was unable to completely write him off.

As much as it pained him to admit, Sasuke had to give a gradually increasing amount of grudging respect for Naruto's abilities. The blond-haired jounin was by far the fastest person Sasuke had ever seen. The Uchiha dearly wanted to find out how he managed to move so fast that it seemed like he was teleporting. It was not a shunshin, Sasuke knew. No, it couldn't be that simple. He'd shown an adeptness at taijutsu and ninjutsu that caught the Uchiha off guard; he'd formed chains from raw chakra, even! How had he done that? Sasuke had no clue. The amount of chakra he'd need to do such a thing seemed almost impossible.

What was more, Sasuke saw a far more mature man inside of Naruto sometimes, like when he'd talked to them about making them better shinobi and not trying to baby them. Where had that come from? And when he'd entered Tazuna's home he had shown something else that Sasuke never would have imagined: class and character. Naruto had transformed into a perfect gentleman, paying all the proper respects, even for the meager offerings that they had been given. He was so respectful he actually had Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, blushing. When told he could be less formal, he gave a boyish grin that only served to make her blush more. Sasuke watched speechlessly, Shikamaru muttered something about a troublesome sensei, and Hinata seemed even more withdrawn than usual.

Oh god, Hinata had a crush on their teacher! The realization struck Sasuke like a bolt of lightning, and he wondered why he hadn't realized it sooner. All her little quirks seemed to fall into place in the face of its obviousness. The young Uchiha shook his head and sighed. At least it wasn't him. And, it seemed, Naruto wasn't actually flirting either, he simply seemed to do it naturally without trying or having any real intention. Who the heck would he have to be around to pick up that sort of habit? How odd.

Tazuna's grandson, a little kid named Inari, hadn't been amused by Naruto's antics in the least, but it had been the jounin's declaration that they'd stop Gatou and finish the bridge was what really set him off. Inari's sudden declaration of how Naruto would 'end up just like all the other heroes, dead!' followed by his storming off caught Naruto off guard, as did the story about Kaiza and his fate at the hands of Gatou that Tsunami told afterward. Naruto seemed perturbed by the story, more so than Sasuke had ever seen him in the months he'd been assigned as their sensei. He excused himself and followed after the boy, much to the surprise of the rest of those present.

He had returned some time later, followed by a still reserved, but clearly different Inari. Silence reigned before Naruto broke it up with his banter, and Sasuke was left wondering who the hell his teacher actually was.

Sasuke shook his head, trying to clear out all the thoughts for a moment; thinking about Naruto and his mysteries was just giving him a headache. Instead, he turned to look at the other male member of his team, one Shikamaru Nara, a boy who was similarly confusing, but far less complicated to figure out. Sasuke appreciated that, because he was getting sick and tired of multidimensional enigmatic stiffs with unknown pasts and back stories that required flowcharts to comprehend. The young Uchiha had more or less worked out Shikamaru: brilliant but lazy. It was obvious, really, not much of a realization at all some might say, but there was some depth to it still.

The pineapple-haired boy had managed to figure out the principles of chakra flow, something even Sasuke hadn't done yet, simply by watching their sensei do it once, and then adapting it to his own purposes. It had drained his chakra to near fatal levels, true, but it still showed a remarkable amount of talent, backed up by his keen ingenuity; the plan to catch Zabuza was something fairly remarkable, particularly for someone Sasuke had simply written off at first. Sasuke actually found himself respecting his teammate's intellect and skill, something he hadn't expected in the least. Of course, that wasn't half as shocking to Sasuke as was his opinion of the third and only female member of their team.

He glanced at Hinata and frowned. Where had she come from, and what had she done with the shy, unskilled, and untalented girl that they'd been assigned? This new Hinata showed remarkable talent, drive, and, while reserved, no longer seemed to hide in the shadows. She had proved not only passable, but downright useful when he had engaged Zabuza's mizu bunshin. Not to mention her handling of the two lesser missing-nin who had attempted the ambush on the road. Sasuke had to give up his barely-held contempt for well-hidden contempt, and then apathy, but now he was almost being forced into grudging acknowledgment. What the heck was going on here?

Sasuke's glance shifted back to their teacher, mind still buzzing. Maybe, just maybe, this guy actually knew what he was doing? Sasuke let the thought roll over him, absurd though it was. He tried to dismiss it, but found that once he admitted that their jounin sensei was skilled in combat he had to admit that Naruto could also be good at training. He had run them through some very intensive circuits back in Konoha, simple though they seemed; Sasuke had questioned the exercises then, complaining that Naruto wasn't teaching them anything useful. He'd realized only after the battle with Zabuza that those basics had become second nature.

Damn, maybe there was more to this blond-haired loser than he'd thought.

Sasuke sighed and laid back down, once again trying to will himself into sleep. He was tired of thinking, all it did was make his head hurt.

**Ω**

**Gaiden Α**

The sun was heavy in the sky, but the small oasis provided suitable shelter from its harsh rays. Fresh water and hardy palms rose above it, bordered by a small cliff side that overlooked the vastness of the desert. It was amongst Temari's favorite spots to sojourn to, a place of quiet personal time for training or meditations; an escape from the attentions and responsibilities of eldest child of the kazekage. It kept her centered, happy, and sane.

Her hand rested on the pair of small fans tucked into the sash on her hips, long golden hair flowing gently in a soft breeze. Her eyes almost looked as though she was lacking in sleep, dark shrouds around being a mark of her unusual parentage; the effects of a jinchuuriki pregnancy were significant, both internally and externally. Her eyes were the only real outer effect, but internally she showed significant differences; her chakra coils were significantly more developed than other people, granting her a massive reservoir of chakra similar to that of her youngest brother, though in contrast to the more precise control that the chakra coil development had granted her other younger brother.

She drew the fans on her hips with preternatural speed, snapping them open with flick of her wrists. The fans were not particularly large, and yet the young girl could unleash more power with them than she ever had when training with the massively oversized fan she'd started with. Temari began to twist and twine sinuously, using her entire body as a conduit for her techniques; her dance was a 'hand sign' of it's own, molding and shaping charka, calling up her elemental affinity and shaping it towards her fans.

Temari spun, and launched a trio of wind blasts in rapid succession, the massive waves rolling over the desert and whipping up a momentary maelstrom of wind and sand. A small grin formed across her face. Oh yes, she would be ready for the exams. So very ready.

**Gaiden Ω**

**Author Note:**  
Keeping it short, it's good to be back! I'm still in Air Force Technical Training, but with access to computers and more time to myself than Basic, I can actually spend time writing. I actually had this chapter planned all the way back before I even left for Basic, back in September, and it was twice as long. I cut it in half so I could get up at least this part done on Christmas, a little gift to my waiting readers. Don't worry, I intend to post up the next chapter by New Years.

I'm not entirely pleased with the chapter; it still hasn't diverged enough from the canon, I know, but the next chapter is a fairly major shift in events. So, patience is a virtue! As always, I appreciate reviews to let me know how I'm doing. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Epidot, who left a very nice review that buoyed me up during my training.

And, for the jutsu notes:

Naruto used Fuuton: Fuudan (Wind Release: Wind Bullet) and Fuuton: Fuurappa (Wind Release: Violent Wind Wave), both of which are fairly general wind techniques that he uses relatively often; they're simple and effective, somewhat like Naruto as some might say.


	7. Part 1, Chapter 7

**Α**

The three genin of Team Seven had been surprised when Naruto told them to get their things together and follow along; they hadn't left Tsunami's house for almost a week, sparing a few short trips into town to scrounge up some sort of sustenance for the group. They'd been tempted to break into their emergency rations, one of those required items they were expected to take, but had been told not to by their teacher, much to their dismay. No, Naruto had told them that it 'would be really lame if we did that; we should eat as these people have to, until we fix it!' The three had to admit it had a bit of nobility to it, but their stomachs were slower to agree. Old vegetables and fish were not their preferred diet by any stretch.

But, instead of another 'mission' to buy some mushy vegetables, Naruto instead took them off to a small pond not too far from the house, but hidden away from curious eyes. The water was clear and pure, surrounded by a copse of trees that made it a suitable spot to sojourn to. While the obvious answer was training, Sasuke wondered what their strange teacher could be up to now, and was only more confused when he unfurled a small scroll that he seemed to have pulled from nowhere. That was becoming a strange habit for the jounin; he seemed to have an almost impossible amount of storage for his small frame. His confusion only grew when his teacher made a few quick seals, causing a pop of smoke to roll off the scrolls, revealing a four dozen or so empty buckets.

The trio simply stared at him for a moment as he turned around and wordlessly walked to the pond's edge, crouching down and settling a single hand onto the water's surface.

"S'nice pond, crystal clear. Bet it tastes good too!" he said with a grin, waiting a moment before he withdrew his hand, pulling a sphere of water up with it. He held the ball in his hand, showing it off to the now surprised and confused genin. Naruto brought the ball up to his mouth, took a deep gulp and then tossed the rest of the water back. It lost its shape as he released it, splashing back into the pond.

"Um... Naruto-sensei, what does this have to do with training?" Hinata asked, surprisingly being the first to speak up. That fact seemed to make Naruto smile even wider.

"Good question, Hinata!" he said, bringing that oh-so-common blush to her face. Sasuke groaned internally, really wishing he hadn't noticed that little fact.

"It's simple, really; you're going learn to pull water out with your hands," he said, throwing his hands up in excitement and making it sound as if they were learning to transform water into gold or alcohol or explosions. His genin seemed somewhat unimpressed.

"A-alright, but, um... why?" Hinata continued, her teammates apparently contented to let her have her moment of facetime. The other two either agreed, or had similar enough sentiments to keep their mouths shut... or simply didn't care, as was most likely in the case of one pineapple-haired young man.

"Another good question! And simple to answer! You see, the principles of chakra flow rely on a combination of conductivity, IE: the reciprocal of chakra resistivity, which is, conductivity I mean, defined as the ratio of the current density to the magnitude of the vector field, and also on the current chakra levels maintained as well as the practical applied chakra pool, or PACP, as measured by your spiritual and mental energy measurements as multiplied by the practical application coefficients." he began, continuing onwards for some time with rambling run on sentences that had far too many acronyms and obscure terms for even Shikamaru to follow. The three genin stared at their teacher with growing degrees of shock. It took five minutes for him to realize they were simply staring at him with mouths agape.

"Err... sorry..." he began, scratching the back of his head. "Um, how should I put this. Basically, learn to put chakra into water and then swirl it up and pull it out, and you'll learn to manipulate chakra through your body and through objects, as well as better control anything you manage to covert your chakra into, like flames or electricity and stuff!"

"I... see," Hinata said, still trying to process their teacher's very... strange outburst. "But, um... again, what exactly is this training?"

"Oh, that? You're going to fill the buckets! First one to finish twelve gets to learn a new technique! Alright, you guys get on that, and I'll be back to check up in a bit, bye!" Naruto said, waving for a moment at the end before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The three genin just stared at the spot he'd been standing for a moment. It was Shikamaru who broke the silence, voicing, in his own way, what all three of the genin were feeling.

"What a drag."

_**Β  
**_  
Naruto stood on the nameless bridge, impressed by its sheer size; this was no simple project, and he couldn't help but feel that labeling it a simple bridge was not doing it justice. More like superspan, or ultraviaduct, or some other suitably impressive sounding name. Of course, something stood out to his young mind; given how fast the workers were moving, how could this much bridge have gotten completed? How long had they been building, anyway? Faced with a conundrum, the curious young man set off to find Tazuna and find out. The answer was not what he expected.

"Three months?" Naruto had exclaimed, earning a fair number of strange looks from the sparse construction workers going about their various jobs. Tazuna sighed and nodded.

"I know it seems odd, but the pace you see now was not how fast it's always been. We used to have far more workers; it was stable work, hard to find these days, but unfortunately intimidation has severely cut down the work force I've got available. We're working hard, but we can only do so much..." he said, letting his voice trail off. Naruto frowned and turned around, watching the workers; the experienced workers, older and skilled like Tazuna, had remained. What they lacked was a workforce.

"I can help." he said with a smile, turning around and giving the elderly bridge-builder an eager thumbs up. The old man smiled as much as his weak heart could.

"I appreciate the offer, but one man isn't going to change our luck." Tazuna said, shaking his head. "I fear we may simply not be enough to finish this at all."

"Ah, ojii-san, don't worry! One guy may not change things, but I'm more than one guy, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, forming the seal that had earned him his title years ago on the Iwa Front. Chakra gathered and flowed. Tazuna took a step back, able to feel the raw power that bled off the young jounin as he gathered and prepared.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted, followed by the billowing clouds of white smoke that followed that particular call. Tazuna shielded his eyes by reflex, and was greeted by a sight he'd never expected. A thousand Narutos stood around the bridge, crouched on cranes and lifters, perched on top of building materials. The original just stood, arms across his chest, and smiled.

"Just leave it to us, ojii-san, we'll have this bridge done in no time!"

Tazuna couldn't even muster up a reply; he simply smiled as a small tear began to form in the corner of his eye.

**Γ**

Naruto-sensei had tasked his three genin to do a simple enough task: fill up a dozen buckets each with water from a small spring pool. The pool was secluded, but with a good location; he'd found not relatively far from where they were staying. Yes, it was a simple task, so simple that for days they hadn't even begun to make a dent in the assignment; Naruto-sensei's little kicker that they had to pull the water out with chakra had made sure of that. All three of the genin faced different problems as they puzzled out the sparse and yet absolutely overly detailed instructions that their teacher had given them. Now, three days later, they finally were beginning to get the hang of things.

Shikamaru had the most experience with chakra flow of all three of the young shinobi, if one could call it that; his brute force method of imitating his teacher had exhausted him for days, though the principles were at least sound. In that way, he was in the most advantageous position of all three of them. His training with his family's special hiden jutsu also gave him a sort of boon; he was experienced in manipulating his chakra outside of his body, such as he did any time he performed his signature kagemane no jutsu. Thus, to most observers, one might assume that Shikamaru should, if not excelling, at least be taking the lead in this little exercise. They wouldn't be alone, as the young Nara would have agreed. However, Shikamaru was finding that academic thought was not translating as readily into practical application as he was expecting; he'd only managed to fill up two buckets, and that was after countless attempts, failures, and repetitions.

Sasuke had the most experience with manipulating the elements; the Uchiha clan started young when it came to teaching their trademark katon techniques. Sasuke had thrown himself into learning them, and had done exceptionally well for such a young age. That had been years ago, and he now had mastered the basics of the techniques to a point that they were simply second nature, yet he was doing so very poorly in this little exercise. This fact frustrated the young boy to no end, and it showed on his usually well-hidden face. The stoic demeanor he was known for was slipping away with each failure, and it was having a snowball effect on his psyche; exponential growth, exponential cracks in the facade.

The fact that Hinata, of all people, was making the most progress was not helping his mood either. His frustration made him miss something else about the young girl, something that their Nara teammate was more perceptive about: Hinata was not acting embarrassed about her successes, though that was not to say she wasn't being humble and quiet about it. It was slow work for the girl, but she was consistently pulling small balls of swirling, bubbling water out of the pool and depositing it into her buckets, four of which were now full, and she was almost halfway through her fifth. Sasuke turned and watched her drop another globule of water into a bucket with a soft smile. He stared for a moment, frustration rising to its peak. He let out a soft sigh and curse under his breath.

"Hey, how are you doing it?" he asked, unable to bring himself to look at her as he did. He scratched the back of his head as he stared out over the water, soft blush of uncharacteristic embarrassment coloring his face. She turned to look at him, confused expression on her face.

"W-what?" she asked, the small bit of her old self resurfacing as she was put on the spot.

"The water. You know what you're doing, it seems, so how are you doing it?" Sasuke pressed, gently, surprisingly, with an honest amount of curiosity and a bit of jealousy in his voice. Shikamaru fought the grin on his face; there was something just precious about seeing Sasuke on the edge of being flustered.

"O-oh, yes, right," she said, turning away and back towards the water. Hinata crouched over again, placing the palm of her hand against the gentle current and her second hand above it. The young girl began to focus, letting her chakra flow downward out of her hands and into the water beneath.

"I don't know... it just feels right," she said with a sudden boost of confidence, a smile on her face. "I let my chakra go, and focus on swirling it around. I see the shape I want in my mind, and then just focus on making that happen. I let the chakra rotate around so it keeps its shape. Once you feel the shape, you have to pull out and then just let it go once it's in the bucket."

Sasuke didn't say a thing, just let out a soft Hn and returned to his work, attempting to apply what she'd said. Rotation? Visualize the circle? He could do that, yes. He pressed his palm downward, imitating his teammate's set-up and began to force his chakra downward, he let it flow nice and strong, drawing on what he knew from those katon techniques he knew once more. He could feel it taking shape, and a small inkling told him to thank Hinata, but it wash pushed aside as his pride surged once more. He tore his palm up, holding the violently raging ball of water in front of him with a mad grin. And then it exploded on him, spraying the young boy with water and leaving him staring at his empty palm with a look of confusion and anger. Hinata giggled and Shikamaru busted out in laughter, earning both of them scowls from their soggy teammate.

"What the hell happened?" he said, forcing himself to ignore their laughter, once again choking down on his pride as much as he could. It was not happy about that, but the pragmatic part of his mind was struggling hard to keep it in line.

"You put too much force into it, Sasuke," a voice said from behind. All three genin turned with surprise; they'd been so caught up in the little scene that they hadn't noticed his approach. The jounin was grinning, arms folded behind his back as he approached.

"Hinata-chan figured it out pretty good," he said, earning a soft blush at the honorific from the girl in question, "but she left out the part about being gentle with it; you gotta learn to control your chakra flow and keep it just right, or the ball will just blow up on you, you know? Of course, I suspect Hinata has something else going for her too."

"And what is that, Naruto-sensei?" Shikamaru said, suddenly curious at his teachers cryptic little statement. He watched as Naruto dug into a pocket on his jacket, and Shikamaru idly noted that it was the first time he'd actually seen Naruto draw something from one of them; the jounin always seemed to just have anything at hand. In this case he drew out three sheets of paper, each of them about the size of a regular exploding tag, but without the markings that would make them one. The grin on his face was almost a mile wide, a fact that only made Shikamaru more confused.

"Right, come here you three, we're going to find something out, like if my hunch is correct," he said, fanning them out for them to take. Shikamaru took one first, examining the blank page with an inquisitive eye, and then let his hand fall to stare at his teacher. Hinata took one tentatively, while Sasuke snapped his up last but suddenly.

"Right, so, how did my sensei explain it again..." Naruto said, finger scratching his chin thoughtful as he did. He waited a moment, and then made a eureka expression as he drew a fourth piece of paper from his jacket.

"Ah, right. See, this paper is made from specially grown trees that are fed chakra as they grow, and when you feed chakra into them, they react in various ways to show what elemental affinity you have," he said, and forcing a small bit of chakra through his fingers and into the paper. Instantly, it split into two... and then those split, and then those did, and so on and so forth. Naruto chuckled, "Err, yeah. Well, mine is a bit overactive, but that shows I've got a wind affinity. Why don't you try it, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stared at a moment, and the looked at the sheet with a small grin. He focused his chakra into it, and then watched as the paper crinkled up in on itself as he held it. Naruto smiled wide.

"Wow, Lightning affinity. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, Itachi was the same way; he had a different affinity than what the Uchiha do usually, or at least so I hear," he said. Sasuke's expression was mixed between smug satisfaction and annoyance at not beating his brother in at least something. Still, it was something... now he just had to learn some lightning techniques. Naruto smiled as he watched Sasuke drift into his own world; the more the blond-haired jounin watched them, the less he was reminded of Itachi, and for some reason that made him smile.

"Alright, you try now, Hinata," he said next, shaking Sasuke from his little daydream as he did. Hinata stared at the paper, confused look on her face as it began to darken and then droop; it was wet, she realized after a moment, causing Sasuke to chuckle.

"Way to go; forget to dry your hands?" Sasuke asked somewhat smugly, causing Hinata to blush and shrink back. Naruto's expression turned rarely stern. He shook his head at Sasuke before turning to the girl with a smile.

"As I suspected: water affinity. Makes sense why you were so good with this exercise, in addition to your clever use of rotation. I guess it must have been the Hyuuga's... well, never mind, just... well done, Hinata," he said, cutting himself off before he delved too deeply into his past. He wasn't quite ready to think about that, not when he was seeing her so much lately...

"Anyway! It's a useful type, good for defense and offense, but now it's Shikamaru's turn. I have another hunch it's gonna be... well, something interesting," he said. Shikamaru frowned; interesting for Naruto likely spelled out trouble for him. He focused just a bit of chakra into the paper, feeling no need to overdo it, and then watched as lines of black began to trace across the page, swirling up into a spiral pattern. Naruto seemed excited.

"Yatta! I was right! Pretty cool, huh?" he said excitedly, but Shikamaru still seemed just confused. What the heck did this mean?

"It's yin and yang; an affinity for it, that's pretty surprising. Well, maybe not, given your family techniques. You manipulate the mental and physical energy rather than elemental changes. Makes sense, really," he said, nodding his head thoughtful. Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow; somehow less troublesome than he'd thought, even if he wasn't entirely sure what Naruto meant by it 'making sense.'

"Plus, now I can teach you a bunch of secret hard stuff, but it shouldn't go so bad 'cause of that little gift of yours," Naruto added, folding his hands behind his head. Shikamaru's expression turned to resigned dejection; yep, he knew it would be something troublesome.

"Speaking of which, here is the deal: I'm going to teach you guys some new tricks. My teacher waited, but... well, I've a feeling we're gonna need it, and you guys are more than ready, believe it! So, first one to finish their buckets learns first, alright? Great!" he finished, waiting just a moment to wave before he disappeared in a puff of smoke; it was becoming a reoccurring habit of his. The three genin just stared for a moment before looking back, staring once more before a look of surprise crossed their face: Naruto had apparently swapped out the buckets with water in them and replaced them with empty ones. Once again Shikamaru found himself vocalizing the feelings of the entire team.

"Our teacher," he began with a sigh, "is so troublesome."

**Δ**

Hinata looked down at the dozen buckets she'd filled with a mixture of surprise and glee; she hadn't realized she'd been working so quickly. Ever since Naruto-sensei had shown up and tested the team for their elemental affinities she had taken things to a whole new level. She looked around, noticing that Sasuke was close behind her, and that made her happy in a way; she obviously had no ire for her teammates, and while she'd enjoy the personal time with Naruto-sensei, she knew that Sasuke was likely even more eager to learn something new to use his new abilities. She watched him closely, able to do so precisely because he was even more engrossed in the exercise than she'd been.

The young Hyuuga girl had decided she liked Sasuke. She was not one to truly dislike anyone, of course, but more and more she was willing to make a distinction between people whom she cared, if not negatively about, than at least only little or none about, and with people she truly cared for. The group was growing quite quickly, compared to what it had been; Naruto-sensei had taken an early spot, joining with Kurenai and her family, despite her father's disappointment in her. Shikamaru had become a friend of sorts too, and she enjoyed playing games with him, even if she never won. He was patient, still, always willing to explain what she did wrong without scolding or insulting her. It was nice to have friends like that.

Sasuke, though? Always so distant, and so cold. She knew he'd lost a parent, much like her, but at the same time that similarity seemed to do little for their mutual respect or understanding. Sasuke was driven, skilled, and distant. The latter element had only just now began to shift, bit by bit, she'd noticed, the more they did missions. He no longer gave her those looks, watching her with eyes that reminded her so much of her father. Now they were more like Naruto's looks, if only slightly, and only some times. Other times he gave her the same neutral expression he gave everyone else. But he was starting to make jokes now; sometimes at her expense, and often at that of their sensei, but still, he was smiling.

Idly, she wondered if Neji-niisan could have been like this with her; if not openly brotherly, at least subtly friendly. She would have liked that. It wasn't a conscious thought, but deep in her mind, she realized that Team 7 was becoming very much a part of her family; her brothers, or perhaps close cousins, and... whatever Naruto-sensei was; very hard to think of him as a father or brother or even a cousin or uncle (and he was very much unlike her father, uncle, AND cousin) given how red her cheeks got whenever he had more than a short conversation, or gave her some words of praise and encouragement. She wasn't sure she was ready to acknowledge just what that was; it was so strange to her, after all, and she'd never felt like that about anyone. Naruto made her feel just... good, and yet odd, all at the same time.

'And,' she thought with a brief embarrassed blush at her own mind, 'in strange places...'

Unfortunately for her, her timing for adolescent wonder proved poor when the object of those strange feelings appeared right next to her in an instant, sweeping her up before she could even gasp and then once again pulling her through the veil of time and space. Her mind blazed as it snapped back into place, and was shortly joined by her cheeks; she had landed on her back this time, laying face up in the grass, and her teacher was propped up over her, staring down into her large off-white eyes.

It was not the first time she'd noticed how beautiful his blue eyes were, nor how his wild blond hair framed his soft face, accented by the cute marks on his face. However, it was the first time that face was around three inches away from her. She felt the heat rise up in her, cheeks burning bright as he sat for a moment with a lost look on his face. After a moment he quickly pushed himself up, chuckling as he resorted to his standard nervous tick of scratching the back of his head. He quickly spit out something about the process not being entirely accurate just yet and how he's still working on the balance issues of something or other, but Hinata was still lost in her own little world. It would take Naruto bending back over her with a concerned expression to bring her out of it.

She leapt up with a small 'eep' and shrunk back slightly, her own old nervous tick of pressing her fingers together surfacing. The pair simple stood in silence for a moment until Naruto managed to recompose himself.

"A-anyway! Time to teach you some new moves!" he said with a sudden burst of excitement, rapidly changing the tone of the encounter and shifting things away from the awkward start. Hinata watched as he unfurled a scroll, once again seemingly drawn from nowhere, across the ground and made a few short seals before pressing down against it. She turned away from the poof of smoke for a moment, and then found herself staring at around a dozen and a half buckets full of water. It took her a moment to realize it was the ones she'd filled... as well as the ones that Team 7 had filled before Naruto-sensei had come to test their affinities.

"Given you're a water type, I figured I could make good use of this already chakra-infused water. It should make it fairly easy to work with, compared to normal water. Good for training, and then we can move onto normal water, and finally water affected by chakra other than your own. See, the presence of different chakra makes it significantly harder to manipulate due to..." he began, and then caught himself. Hinata had gone from watching with interest and confusion to almost pure confusion, and Naruto realized he'd been about to launch into yet another likely far too advanced explanation of the hows and whys when he really just needed to teach her the how. He forgot that people didn't absorb information as fast as he did some times. Idly, Naruto pondered what it would like to be, well... normal.

The thought was gone in an instant, returning to his young student. He smiled and grabbed one of the buckets, setting it in front of her with a smile.

"Watch close, this is the first thing. I figure you might be able to use some of these to augment your taijutsu; a pure style is just no good, it needs a bit of spice, to keep the enemy guessing, you know?" he said, forming the seals in a slower and methodological way as he spoke. Ne, Rat; Inu, Dog; Ushi, Ox. A simple chain, not hard to remember or utilize in any way. However, while the seals helped mold and gather the chakra up, it took the user's mind and 'intent' to truly give form to the technique. Naruto pressed his hand down, looking at the bucket for a moment.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening, but slowly a swirl began to form in the still water, slowly gaining speed. And then, suddenly, a line of water began to rise up, dancing like a charmed snake. Hinata watched with wonder as he pulled it up into his hand, actually holding onto it like a rope or chain, and then pulled it out. He smiled at her obvious expression.

"This is Suiton: Suiban. As you can see, it makes a whip of water that you can use to entangle an opponent or manipulate objects with. It's surprisingly durable too, lots of pressure and whatnot," he said, lashing out with the liquid 'rope' and yanking on a nearby tree branch.

"Sensei... this reminds me of what you did back with Zabuza," Hinata said, her mind's eye recalling the glowing chains that her teacher had summoned up to grab onto the missing-nin's massive sword. Naruto nodded.

"Similar in practice, really. The water whip is easier to do because it uses water as a channel and material for your chakra, rather than trying to manipulate raw chakra itself. Well, to learn at least," he said with a chuckle. "It's kinda funky, but while this is easy to learn, and I'm sure you'll have it down after a few tries, what I do is actually easier to pull out on the fly, once you figure out how to do it. It... wasn't easy."

Hinata just nodded, not really understanding but not having the drive or reason to say anything. Naruto guided the whip back towards the bucket, releasing it without much flair and letting it return to it's starting position.

"Let's get started. Once you get this done, I can show you some cool moves to do with it, and then we can move on to some other stuff too. It'll be great!" Naruto said, the childlike joy he found in training showing through and through. Hinata just smiled at him and nodded with a simple 'Hai!'

She had to say, today was turning out to be a very, very good day.

**Ε**

Kakashi walked through the gates of Konoha at a leisurely pace, whistling a jaunty tune and gazing down lovingly at the pages of one his favorite books. Icha Icha Paradise was a classic, and it never got old no matter how many times he read it, and he had long lost count of how many times that was somewhere around a few dozen. The chuunin at the gates didn't bother to stop him, knowing quite well who the famous ANBU captain was, both by reputation and habit. They waved, which he returned without even looking up from his novel, once again not surprising either of them. The routine had been old a long time ago.

What hadn't been old were the peculiarly dressed shinobi he spotted every so often; they wore a flak jacket similar to the Konoha standard but colored black instead of the traditional green, and wore it over an outfit, which seemed like a jacket or military blouse and a set of matching pants in a pattern of stripped forest camouflage. On their heads they wore a black beret, marked with a symbol Kakashi had never seen before: a white eagle diving down over a stylized leaf symbol that had an equally stylized and angled H etched over it. He frowned beneath his mask; this was an unexpected development, particularly given he'd only been gone for a few weeks.

"Ma, ma. Seems I'll need to get there a bit faster this time; no time to be late, sadly," he said to himself, flipping the cover of his book closed and tucking it away before he leaped off to the rooftops and headed for the Hokage's office. He needed to report in anyway, and this new group made him too curious to wait. The more he looked, the more he found them; mostly Hyuuga, he realized, but with a smattering of other groups, notably the Inuzuka. The populous seemed wary, but the group was hardly doing much to earn ire. Their purpose was revealed when he saw a pair stop a young boy attempting to steal something from a store.

'A police force-?' Kakashi thought as he pushed off another rooftop, wondering just what Itachi had gotten up to while the ANBU captain had been gone. He pushed harder, curiosity only rising as he neared his goal.

Kakashi landed softly, perching himself on Itachi's open window. He was just about to wave and say his customary 'Yo' when Itachi spoke first, already facing his old comrade.

"Kakashi-sempai, I have always said I have an open door policy, but you still insist on the window, hmm?" Itachi said, wearing the traditional robes of the hokage, sans its wide-brimmed hat. He smiled softly; Kakashi was a good face to see, even with the dark knowledge that Itachi knew he was going to be bringing him. That was the nature of the mission he'd given, but at least he'd be getting it from a friendly face. Kakashi eased himself in, scratching the back of his head and chuckling slightly as he did.

"You're also... on time," Itachi continued with a slight frown. "That rarely bodes well when you're reporting."

"It's less the report, though I'll admit that's hardly good news either, and more the shinobi in the fatigues and berets wandering about and policing the place that got me here," Kakashi said, taking a spot against the wall near his entry window. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest, single normal eye locked on the hokage.

"Ah, I see you've noticed our new division, the KSFS."

"KSFS?"

"Konoha Security Forces Squadron. It formed a few weeks ago, and has shot up fast; the Hyuuga do know how to organize," Itachi said, folding his hands in front of him with a small grin.

"I see. Hiashi made a power play, then," Kakashi said, nodding thoughtfully for a moment. The Hyuuga were smart to make such a move, but that made Kakashi wonder what exactly they'd given in return for their new found place of power in the village.

"Yes, but he may find the price somewhat unbearable after a time. He gave up the secret of the seal, and..." Itachi said, tossing a sheet of paper in the way only a shinobi could. Kakashi caught it and scanned it, single eye widening for a moment, mind drifting from his report.

"Itachi-san, this is a wedding contract."

**Ζ**

Sasuke had, surprisingly, managed to prevent himself from getting completely infuriated, both by his own failure and the antics of his teammates. Hinata's sudden aptitude he had to admit he respected, and her drive was making her less insufferable, but that didn't mean he enjoyed being actually beaten by her; the sheer concept of it boggled his mind. Shikamaru, on the other hand, and perhaps ironically given his dislike of one teammate's sudden success, he found himself disliking once more due to the boys return into lackadaisical laziness, barely even bothering to put too much effort into filling the buckets and spending a significant portion of his time on a break in some sort of meditative stance; where had the tactical mind from their battle with Zabuza gone?

Of course, he consoled himself by simply reminding him of his natural skill; to have learned to use another elemental transformation than his affinity so young was perfect evidence of his natural aptitude and dedication. And now, he'd also managed to manipulate a third element, or the basics at least. He was catching his brother, he was sure of it, even if he hadn't been first. But, dammit, he just knew he was. He had to be!

Sasuke realized that he had finished the last of his buckets only as he was about to drop another ball of water in; he'd been so, once again, lost in his thoughts that he'd completely moved into automatic and lost track of time. The young Uchiha wasn't even sure how much time had passed since Hinata had gone off with Naruto. A self-satisfied smile crossed his face, and he looked up to announce his success to Shikamaru when he found himself instead in the middle of a forest and his teacher leaning over him with a grin as satisfied as his own.

"Finished, are we? Good," the jounin said, straightening up and placing his hands on his hips, "'cause I've got a lot to teach you, believe it!"

Sasuke couldn't help but keep smiling. Yes, he was going to get even stronger; next time he met up with that Zabuza bastard, he'd be more than ready. Maybe he'd misjudged Naruto after all; he was finally teaching him something the genin could really use. Sasuke instinctively activated his young sharingan, single tomoe appearing in the red field of the eye.

"I'm ready," he said, simply standing himself up at double time, eager and set. But Naruto shook his head and wagged a rebuking finger.

"Ah, ah, ah! None of that; your sharingan is cool and all, but if there is one thing I've learned, it's that to really get better, you need to do more than copy and imitate, you need to learn and understand, you know?" the jounin said with reprove in his tone. Sasuke reflexively scowled; what the hell was that supposed to mean?

"But I've finally got my sharingan, why wouldn't I use it?" the boy exclaimed. Naruto was fast to reply.

"Because it's a waste! You've got talent, and you need to keep nurturing that, else it's useless, you know? You can understand things that the other two, and most people your age can't," he said, and Sasuke had the distinct impression he was talking about more than just techniques.

"Learning hands-on will let you understand the intricacies more than even your eye can show, the way only hands-on can; you can't fake it, you gotta earn it, you know? That way, you can take what you've learned and improve it, make it your own, not just copy everyone else," he continued, pausing for a moment to let his words sink in.

"Besides, you're too good to end up as just another copycat, believe it! You've got the skill to do more than imitate, you could create! And these are the building blocks right here," he said, hands flying through a series of short seals. He held up his right hand, grinning as small arcs of electricity danced around his fingers. The jounin flicked out his left, sending a kunai out. He followed up with his charging hand, sending a small bolt of lightning arcing off to the mostly-metal spike, which then impacted the ground with a sizzle and a thunk. Naruto looked back and chuckled; he'd never seen Sasuke look so... well, hungry was the only thing that came to mind.

"Raiton: Jinkourai," Naruto said, sparks dying in his hand. Sasuke nodded eagerly, showing his attentiveness. Naruto simply smiled.

"And this," he continued, bringing his hands back up and going through the seals at a slower pace, "is how you do it."

**Η**

In a hidden enclave, safely placed away and above any reasonable discovery site, Zabuza Momochi pored over a stack of scrolls, filled with secrets both old and forbidden for all eyes but those approved by the Mizukage, including a number containing the special techniques of the Kirigakure no Sato Hunter-Nin. His search was furious, for he had to find something to even the playing field with that damnable brat, else his entire time in the Land of Waves would have been for naught.

Zabuza had done more than simply make an attempt on the life of the Mizukage. The Demon of the Hidden Mist had planned a wide-spread coup, and had more than a few agents still in waiting for the go command that had never come, and might never come if he couldn't finance his little rebellion. Truthfully, Zabuza knew he was doing it as much out of personal greed and desire for power as it was out of any loyalty or love to his village; although the Mizukage was clearly being driven by some dark force, it was the opportunity rather than the cause itself that drove him. But it had failed, and now he found himself scrambling to reassemble the forces scattered by his failed attempt and make another march on the Mizukage's palace.

But that meant he needed money, which meant he needed jobs. Jobs meant money, but they also meant publicity; one he needed, the other he loathed. Publicity brought Hunter-Nin, and while he had no illusions that he could take on nearly any shinobi still retained in the service of the Mizukage, he could not take on all of them at once, nor fight a fully operational Hunter-Nin team with unkind designs for his head. Thus, he was stuck in this small floundering nation, run by an ineffectual government reconstituted after the fall of the last nation to call the island its home, and then that 'new' government finding itself quickly usurped by the rising stars of political power: corporations.

Zabuza hadn't liked working for the worm Gatou, but he could not deny the money it had brought, and would continue to bring. The final payout was coming, and then he could dispose of the tyrant. It was not due to any moral concern, per se, not that most would recognize. Instead, it was a combination of his disgust at the way the man conducted himself combined with his innate hatred of anyone who attempted to exert undue control over him; Gatou pretended to be his superior, when it was clear that Zabuza could bisect him without a second thought. The squat man hadn't the strength to cause Zabuza to bow, even for a moment. He was a tool, and nothing more. Zabuza towed the line just to get what he needed.

He had briefly entertained the concept of murdering the man and taking his place as the ruler of the broken land; it would not be hard to turn it into a productive plot of land. The only problem was the attention it would draw, attention he was not yet ready for. Thus, he'd discarded that idea, making a note to return at a later date, so that he might take its resources, perhaps as a Revolutionary Warlord. The zeal he might get from that would produce useful soldiers for his efforts against Kirigakure. But not now. And not until he'd dealt with Naruto.

It was this reason that he was tearing into the massive piles of scrolls he stolen when he left Kirigakure no Sato, his raid on the palace of the Mizukage not being a total failure in at least that way. He'd already adapted a number of techniques, even if he knew quite a few of them due to being, at one time, a favored son of the village and given ready access to many of the forbidden records as a result. However, while formerly a member of the ANBU, he'd never been a member of the Hunter-Nin, and their techniques had both intrigued and eluded him for quite some time. Thus, his theft of some of their secret scrolls seemed logical, though he hadn't found too many techniques he was just dying to learn. Until now.

He knew he'd seen it before when he'd scanned them the first time: a screen of mist that not only provided the obscured vision Zabuza was already known for, but also a significant benefit that could turn the tide for Zabuza. He simply had to find it first, something that seemed far harder than it should have been. The missing-nin tossed another scroll behind him in frustration. Where was it? He slammed his fist down on the table, causing a stack of scrolls to jolt and fall, rolling out. He stared down at one of the scrolls that had unfurled right in front of him, simply looking at it before a sinister grin crossed his face.

Finally, the Hijutsu he'd been looking for; he'd found the Kirisame.

**Θ**

Shikamaru deposited the last of the watery orbs into his bucket at a leisurely pace, having taken nearly twice as long as even Sasuke had to finish the goal; he felt no rush to finish the practice, really. He was no fool, and he knew Naruto-sensei was going to train them all eventually. He didn't need to be first, as even if he'd gotten done first he'd still just end up doing some other exercise no doubt. So, he'd enjoyed what had more or less amounted to downtime. Besides, the clouds had finally come out, making it even more enjoyable; he intended to milk it as much as he could. Of course, now that he was done he doubted that would last long.

And, as if on cue, Naruto came walking out of a nearby copse of trees, hands folded behind his head as he whistled a simple tune. Shikamaru watched him with an appraising eye. It didn't escape the notice of his teacher either. Naruto let off a huff and moved his arms to his hips in mock displeasure.

"There you go again, Shikamaru; always thinking about everything. I know we teach you guys to do that whole 'see underneath the underneath' or whatever, but you need to learn the way of 'conceiving without conception,' you know?" he said, taking a place by leaning against one of the thick trees. He crossed his arms across his body and grinned. Shikamaru recognized a challenge when he saw it, but was that the point? Was he supposed to see it as a challenge? If so, was he supposed to respond to it. Or was responding to it failing the challenge? Or was the challenge seeing if he saw the challenge in the first place? Shikamaru frowned, and Naruto just laughed.

"See, right there? I can just see your mind getting all busy 'cause of what I just said, but you miss the point. Seeing underneath the underneath doesn't mean you have to try and work out absolutely everything, you know? You gotta know when, and even then you gotta know how to react! Life isn't shogi, Shikamaru," Naruto replied, laughter dying down but smile remaining on his face. Shikamaru looked bemused; Naruto just did love surprising him. Now it was Shikamaru's turn to surprise him.

Shikamaru had long pondered his teacher's true nature; he'd spent countless hours pondering the young jounin, and so he decided to take Naruto's advice, cutting right to the source: he'd just ask him.

"Naruto-sensei, what are you really like?" he asked, causing Naruto's smile to fall into a small grin. His head fell as well for a moment, eyes closed in contemplation.

"I was wondering when one of you would ask; figured it would be you, you know?" he said, looking up as he did.

"You're not ready for the why, hows, and whos of it all, though. Or maybe I'm not, you know? But I'll put your mind at ease at least; I'm a simple guy, Shikimaru, always have been. It took a lot of hard work to get to where I am, but I couldn't live a lie like I think you suspect I may be; I am who I am, had to make peace with a lot of stuff, but you know... its just a better way to live. Learn that young, and you'll be set. Ain't easy, but you'll get the hang of it. I know you will," he finished with a smile. Shikamaru just stared at him thoughtfully.

"Anyway," Naruto said, pushing up off the tree, "it's time to get started on training. I've got some tricks I'm sure you'll love."

"Like what, exactly? I'm not going to be all that good at any elemental techniques and you can't teach me any hiden." Shikamaru asked, honestly curious as to what exactly his teacher could be thinking. Naruto's smile grew wide and beaming.

"My favorite techniques of all, of course: seals."

**Ι**

From a distance, Naruto Namikaze watched as his kage bunshin went about training his young genin in their various techniques; he had positioned their training spots beforehand, both to provide ample room and to make it easier for him to watch from this location. He'd replaced himself with a clone when they hadn't been looking, returning to this spot afterward to watch over them all. He pondered how a jounin sensei could get by without having a few hundred dozen copies running around taking care of everything he needed to have taken care of, though he wasn't looking forward to the headache was no doubt in store for after the hours of labor he was putting in on the bridge and the more mentally intensive process of teaching his team their new jutsu. Still, despite the mental pain, his brute force method tended to get results, even if it was a bit inelegant.

The trio were picking up their respective techniques quickly; Sasuke had managed to get the hang of his as fast as Naruto had expected, though the jounin had him practice in applications a bit deeper than just the basic technique. Naruto had him running drills, showing him as many creative uses of the technique as the Uchiha boy could think of. Sasuke proved a keen mind, applying masterful mixes of taijutsu with it, along with a number of moves using wires, shuriken, kunai, or a combination of the three.

Hinata, on the other hand, hand learned not only the water whip, but also another few basic water techniques. She and her clone had moved on to merging the new techniques with her traditional style, and the young girl was obviously surprised by Naruto's familiarity with the family forms, though she kept it to herself. Naruto knew that question was coming soon too, and wasn't sure how ready he was for it.

Finally, Shikamaru actually seemed eager to learn, though this was mostly after Naruto told him that the basic sealing techniques would allow him to seal away his gear and lighten his load, as well as let him carry countless extra items without weighing him down at all. When asked about the limits of what he could carry, Naruto told him it was limited only by his ability to remember where the seal was and the right mental state to unlock it. Shikamaru seemed the most gleeful after that, and Naruto was momentarily afraid he'd created a monster.

Well, perhaps it was for the best. Naruto knew they only had a short bit of time before Zabuza made his move again, and his team had to be ready for that. He just hoped he'd given them the right tools. They, himself included, were going to need everything they could get.

**Κ**

"I hope you know what you're doing," Kakashi said as he lowered the sheet and frowned beneath his mask. Itachi said nothing, silently acknowledging the minor rebuke; it was subtle, but one did not get to the position Itachi had without being more perceptive than most. Kakashi did not approve, though the hokage had expected that. Of course, that still didn't make him feel any better about it.

"It's an option we can exercise if we have to, nothing more," he said, perhaps more defensively than he'd intended. Kakashi looked at him in a strange way, as if asking if he really meant I when he said We. Itachi's face finally showed a small frown, barely a twitch on the edge of his mouth. His chair turned around, and Kakashi sighed. This was not how he'd hoped to report in. Itachi seemed to read his mind; not an uncommon experience when dealing with the hokage.

"What did you find, Kakashi-sempai?" the hokage said softly. Kakashi took the subject change in stride.

"Something that, as Shikaku might say, is quite troublesome," Kakashi said, invoking the name of the current jounin commander of the ranks of the Konohagakure no Sato regular shinobi. Itachi's chair spun around.

"You have a lead," Itachi stated, not asked; it was a subtle difference that Kakashi noted quite well. He'd suspected as much: Itachi hadn't been entirely forthcoming.

"Yes. Orochimaru," Kakashi said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing. However, the former ANBU's expression turned dark when he noticed that the hokage's own had. Perhaps he had been wrong; perhaps Itachi hadn't been as prescient as he'd thought.

**Ω**

**Gaiden Α**

Iruka watched the recess with a keen eye, making sure all of the academy students were behaving. Many were simply socializing or playing simple games, passing the time in leisure. Others spent it training: sparring was popular, along with some other simple exercises. Many of the younger students spent time playing various forms of cat's cradle and other rope ladders; although it seemed to be pointless at first, it became more important when someone realized they were practicing the flexibility and speed of their fingers, an invaluable gift when they learned techniques later on in their academy career.

However, his eyes fell to a single child who stood alone, trying to work out the precise movements required without much success. Iruka frowned; he was well acquainted with the boy, an orphan without much talent but so much heart. He truly saw the potential in the boy, but his status and awkwardness was making every step a challenge. The other children's rejection of him wasn't helping either; they watched him with barely hidden contempt. Iruka knew saying something would only draw more attention and ire towards him, though he was beginning to think he needed to step in; the child needed someone to help him along. He stood up from his seat, only to be suddenly surprised.

An elder boy, only a year or two from graduation, approached the orphan. At first, Iruka was worried, but his worry turned into wonder as the elder student crouched down, pulling out his own set of strings and beginning to work through the movements slowly but surely, explaining each step bit by bit. Iruka watched for some time as the elder boy was laughing, and the orphan was joining in bit by bit. Iruka found something warming deep inside him, and a distant memory brought itself to the forefront of his mind.

There had been a time when another elder boy, this one with a scar across his face, had approached a young, blond-haired and whisker-bearing boy that had so much ire in the village. But Iruka held no ill-will for him, only pity. They both were orphans, weren't they? They both had lost so much. Iruka realized that the elder child had just made a friend for life, much like Iruka had so long ago.

He sorely hoped Naruto and his team returned; they were sorely overdue to catch up over a bowl of ramen.

**Gaiden Ω**

**Author Note:  
**I'll make this short and sweet, something I was mostly unable to do with the chapter. I've had this in the works since last year, and much of this was cut off from chapter 6, then expanded with more scenes so I could get one out for Christmas. Originally, I intended this for New Year's, buuut that sort of fell through. Part of why it started getting away from me; it's by far my longest chapter in this story, maybe in any of my stories. I've a feeling this is going to become a pattern. Expect longer delays for longer chapters. Fair enough trade, yes?

In the good news, I've planned out no less then sixteen arcs for this story, and have every intention and desire of getting to the last one. I've more or less decided to scrap Pack Light for now, as I've said, party because of it's bloat and, well, lack of goal: I'd been making it up as I went along for plot. I've managed to fix that here, though. Planning ahead is good for the drive.

Oh, and just so you know, these seven chapters are just the first arc, and it's not even done yet. It'll be a long haul, and at this rate we're not going to be done for at least a few hundred more chapters. Daunting, but a good goal.

I intend to start using the Gaiden sections to show some scenes that explain the backstory a bit more, and minor details. For example, I wondered about it bugging anyone that Iruka and Naruto still knew each other, given Naruto was in the field long before Iruka would have been a teacher. Hence, I thought of and did up the scene to explain their relationship. Expect similar such scenes in future chapters, particularly ones explaining how the Naruto of Naruto-sensei got to be the way he is.

And, for jutsu notes:

Raiton: Jinkourai is Lightning Release: Artifical Lightning. Self-explanatory really; C or so level lightning creation technique that can make simple bolts of power. Useful with kunai, shuriken, and other conductive objects, and it makes a good basis for other techniques and learning the lightning style.

Suiton: Suiban is Water Release: Water Whip. Also self-explanatory, no? Whip, or rope, of water.

Hijutsu: Kirisame, Secret Technique: Mist Rain, is a bit different, and I wont explain what it does yet. You can google it to find out, as it's a canon technique, or you may know already. Don't feel obligated; you'll see it in action next chapter.


	8. Part 1, Chapter 8

_**Α**_

Sasuke tapped his foot against the wooden boards he was sitting on, arms folded behind his head as he watched the massive team of Naruto clones go about their work. The clone work group was dressed in a variety of different and, Sasuke noted with an unamused sigh, hodgepodged clichés. Although their fashion sense left much to be desired, their workmanship seemed to be of an honestly impossibly high caliber; Sasuke was no expert in masonry or carpentry, but he was fairly certain that Naruto wasn't either. Of course, Sasuke could be wrong, though certain factors suggested he wasn't; he'd certainly learned more than a few interesting and very surprising facts about his fairly young sensei over the course of thus mission, not the least of which was his ability to use the same army of clones he now saw working. Naruto's supposed title as Konoha's One Man Army suddenly made a lot more sense.

He watched as a worker Naruto hammered away at some sort of framework or scaffolding; truthfully, Sasuke wasn't sure what it was the clone was working on, but that wasn't the important aspect of the situation. The strange part was when the Naruto accidentally struck it's own thumb, causing it to burst into a puff of white smoke. Sasuke could do nothing but stare at the pure surrealism of watching two other Narutos, dressed in equally surreal clothing, step up to take the, for lack of a better term, 'dead' one's place. They fell in and continued it's work, abet only after making a few barbs directed at the now dispersed clone's ineptitude.

Sasuke was no expert on jutsu (not for lack of trying, of course), but he was of course familiar with bunshinjutsu, and the fact that Bunshin were chakra-intensive constructs that tended to be fairly binary in in their mental abilities, rather than heuristic. Sasuke had caught himself having conversations with Naruto's clones, a fact that was, in retrospect, somewhat disconcerting, particularly when he'd talk to one and then mistake another for the same one. He wondered if that was why Naruto had started making each one so distinct looking, but attributing such cerebral actions to his teacher was still a difficult thing for Sasuke to do. It got even stranger when the actual Naruto would bring up the conversation at a later date.

Regardless, he had no knowledge of a technique that let someone create a clone seemingly out of pure chakra, with no elemental substance to stabilize it, and certainly no clone technique that could actually interact with the world that allowed for such vast numbers of clones to be created. Even jounin had trouble creating more then half a dozen clones, or so Sasuke had read. But Naruto had, day after day, created these near perfect replicas of himself. And they got better, too! Each day they seemed to increase in skill; Sasuke had been on guard duty for the past week and a half, when they weren't busy running team drills and working on mastering the techniques that Naruto had shown them. The first day he'd seen them they were sloppy, uncoordinated, and generally only barely a help at all; only the sheer numbers produced made up for their ineptitude. The various other workers on the bridge had become more like area foremen, directing them as best they could.

But the very next day, that changed. The clones moved with a sense of purpose and experience, as if they'd been working for weeks, not hours. They still made stupid mistakes, and still required near constant guidance from the foremen to get things right, but the difference in ability was clear as day to the young Uchiha, and it had caught him yet again off guard. He was beginning to resent Naruto's ability to do that. It only got worse the next day he saw them; they were working as if they'd done this for months at a time, and it seemed to snowball with every new day. Now, the clones could work almost unsupervised, only rarely making minor mistakes that had little impact on the project as a whole. The foremen had gone back to work as simple craftsmen, giving guidance to their same faced workforce only rarely.

Sasuke sorely wished he'd have watched his sensei perform whatever technique it was that he was using to make these clones; one glimpse with his sharingan and he'd actually get what the jounin was up to. Strangely, he found himself reluctant to activate it so freely, particularly after Naruto had lectured him on not relying on it. The Uchiha had realized that the jounin's words had cut deeper than he'd thought, and had been more carefully chosen than he'd thought at first; Naruto had attacked his pride as he built him up. But even recognizing it for what it was, Sasuke still couldn't shake the advice, and he'd barely even used the sharingan over the past week.

He'd had plenty of chances too; the team had been running training drills, familiarizing themselves with the use of their new techniques as well as how to integrate them into team formations, along with simple techniques and exercises such as tree walking. It was something that the whole team picked up on thankfully quickly, no doubt due to the hours of practice they'd had already manipulating chakra. Sasuke had found it less tedious than he remembered, particularly given the fact that both his teammate's actually seemed to be keeping up, to a degree at least. Shikamaru was pulling out tricks with wire and shuriken that actually had Sasuke jealous for a brief moment, and Hinata's flowing form was augmented by her new-found watery abilities. Sasuke hadn't used his sharingan during any of these situations, having no reason to do so. He could have learnt the secrets of his teammates techniques, but felt no drive to do so. He wasn't entirely sure why.

Indeed, the only time he had activated his sharingan had been out of surprise; during a spar with Hinata, he found that he actually was beginning to need his doujutsu to keep his edge. Sasuke realized that even though he'd known that his Hyuuga teammate was improving, he'd vastly underestimated her progress. It was somewhat humbling, and equally stinging to his young ego. Sure, he was winning, but by a closer and smaller margin every time. He made a mental note to redouble his efforts when the mission was over. For now, of course, he was stuck watching a thousand blond-haired goofs work on a bridge.

It was not, particularly, something he considered an enjoyable experience. He let his mind begin to wander, thinking of other ways to manipulate the principles and techniques he'd been learning for the past few days. He fell into such a distracted state that he almost didn't notice the fog that seemed to roll in from nowhere, blanketing the area with a thick mist. Sasuke was no fool; he knew exactly what was going on as it did, and a feral grin crossed his face. Finally, a fight. He was about to say something to one of the nearby clones when he noticed that it seemed suddenly exhausted. It burst a few seconds later, followed by a storm of pops as all the other Naruto's around began to wink out of existence.

This did not bode well. Sasuke leaped up from his spot, heading towards the predesignated rally point. The rest of his team was supposed to meet there if something unexpected happened. Sasuke couldn't shake the sudden feeling of dread that washed over him, wiping away his earlier hubris and replacing it with a dull throb in the pit of his stomach.

Something was very, very wrong.

_**Β**_

It was Hinata's first reflex to activate her special eyes when the mist rolled in, the young girl also being not a fool. She had been placed towards the center of the work zone, the intent being that her byakugan would allow her to scout out and sound a warning faster from such a position. She felt small as she realized she'd failed in her job, given that someone, no doubt that masked shinobi who had attacked them weeks ago, had clearly gotten at least close enough to use his mist technique and hide his final approach. However, she would not let that shut her out; even if she'd failed to spot him first, she could at least spot him now. Or, so she'd hoped. That hope was dashed the moment she whispered out the name of her gift.

The bright glow of the mist almost blinded her for a moment, the vapor having been infused with chakra. It made sense when she thought about it in retrospect, but at the time she was simply more angry with herself for her lack of use. She was useless as a sentry now: not only was she unable to spot an approaching foe, she'd been further rendered useless by the attack. It was a disgrace.

Hinata shook her head of the thoughts, with some difficulty, as she pushed off from her perch on top of a stack of cut stone. She let the self-recrimination pass as she headed towards the rally point. She might have failed as a sentry, but she wouldn't be the source of their mission failing. Naruto trusted her; he told her she was doing good, that he valued her on the team. He'd spent time to teach her The last thing she'd do would be to let him down any more.

_**Γ**_

Honestly, Shikamaru felt life was so very unfair to him. He'd expected a nice and fairly leisurely rise in his shinobi career, hardly the combination of heavy training and missions that were more than they seemed that he'd received instead. Indeed, he'd expected to be placed on a team with his long time friend and long time nag, Chouji and Ino respectively, maybe led by that curious jounin who had kept challenging him to intelligence tests disguised as games; pointing out the deception was just too troublesome, so he went along with it. Still, Asuma-san had seemed to be an interesting guy, and Shikamaru wouldn't have minded him as a sensei at all. Instead, he'd received a hyperactive, unpredictable, and remarkably young sensei along with the classes token dark and mysterious boy with a troubled past (though he was getting better, sort of) and what Shikamaru had assumed was a shrinking violet wallflower but turned out to be a shrinking violet wallflower with an inferiority complex (Though she was getting better too, sort of.)

The Nara boy actually liked his team, he really did; he couldn't help but like them, really. All those exercises, small missions, and the brief moments that seemed to spring up out of nowhere more or less guaranteed that. Plus, his sensei was just too fascinating for Shikamaru's good; even when he told him things straight up, Shikamaru couldn't help but feel there was some hidden meaning behind everything. Or maybe there wasn't. Or maybe Shikamaru was just going to go insane at the persistant conundrum that was Naruto Namikaze. Regardless, he presented a puzzle for Shikamaru that actually was hard, and that was something that the boy knew he subconsciously craved. But even with all the redeeming features, he still couldn't just shrug off the fact of how unlucky he seemed to be as of late. It seemed that for every blessing there were two curses.

Case in point, his duty guarding the bridge's construction. Shikamaru was stationed with Naruto-sensei, the real one that was, and was right next to the bridge-builder himself, Tazuna. It was a pathetically easy 'job,' if one could call it that at all. But that was all fine for Shikamaru; finally, no more training for awhile, just some time to sit, and wait, and watch his beloved clouds. And it was so very cloudy as of late. But, sure enough, it couldn't last. He simply sighed as the mist began to roll in. What a drag.

However, his thoughts turned from dejection to actual worry when he noticed his sensei's various clones, yet another facet of the jounin's mystery, begin to suddenly keel over and dissipate. His hand instinctively fell to the set of scrolls now hanging from his side; he'd taken to carrying three in a holster on his right and three vertically in his belt on the right side of his back. He began to pull one up as the actual Naruto moved next to him and Tazuna. Shikamaru knew things would be troublesome when he saw his sensei grinning.

"Seems like Zabuza is finally making his move," Naruto said, looking around. He paused a moment and turned to his young pupil with an intense expression on his face, "I was expecting some tricks, but this one actually is new to me. He'll come after me first; I'm the real threat. You need to take ojii-san and meet up with Sasuke and Hinata-chan."

Shikamaru raised his eye at the honorific, almost missing it as Naruto seemed to have. The Nara boy said nothing; there was nothing to say. He placed a hand on Tazuna's shoulder, guiding him away as a sinster laugh began to echo around them. Shikamaru's blood began to run cold, but he kept moving, heading for the rally point. Naruto, on the other hand, simply stood, arms folded across his chest.

"Its about time you showed up, you know. I was beginning to worry you had gotten scared and ran off!" he said, earning a momentary reprieve from the sinister laughter.

"Hardly, brat. But I can admit when I need time to prepare for a kill; you should consider yourself honored, you're one of a select few that has ever made me do that." the voice replied in a deep rumble, and for the briefest of moments Naruto could make out a shimmering shape in the veils of the mist. He dropped into a ready stance instinctively, hands moving in front of him, one above the other. But, to his great displeasure, he found that his father's gift was also being countered by whatever strange jutsu that Zabuza had stumbled upon. That meant this was going to be very, very hard and he was going to have to try something very, very different.

Awesome.

_**Δ**_

Shikamaru arrive last, hindered somewhat by the bridge-builders age and distinct lack of shinobi training. Hinata gave him an relieved expression, while Sasuke remained remarkably impassive given the situation, but the pineapple-haired genin was more than used to that by now. Sasuke could keep his cool under almost any circumstances; of course, Shikamaru had also learned that was just his way of not pissing his pants in fear, and dealing with the less then amusing hand he'd been given. It worked, he supposed, so who was Shikamaru to judge.

"Shikamaru!" Hinata said, expression falling for a moment, "I'm sorry, I messed up; I didn't see them coming."

The Nara boy just shook his head and chuckled.

"Only you would beat yourself up about being snuck up on by someone who can outclass us like that." he said with an only half-forced smile. He turned to Sasuke as he spoke, finding that being around his teammates was having a strangely calming effect on his frayed nerves.

Sasuke said nothing, but agreed, or Shikamaru assumed it was agreement, with his trademark Hn, still standing in what more or less amounted to his relaxed stance, hands in the pocket.

'On second thought,' Shikamaru mused, 'Maybe that is a bit annoying.'

His thoughts were jarred, however, when a slick voice began to rise up towards them. Shikamaru spun around, trying to pinpoint its location. The mist was weaker here, as if it was receding, gathering towards where sensei had stayed. The laughter lacked the the gravelly menace of Zabuza, but it had it's own sinister twinge, a sort of dark playfulness that spoke of psychopathic dreams. Shikamaru wondered if he wasn't letting his aforementioned frayed nerves get to him, but whatever the case, the laughter was far from friendly. He also noted that it had a different quality than Zabuza's; it seemed to rise up to them, rather then bear down from all around. Shikamaru looked at his feet, realizing that he was so off that he hadn't noticed the few inches of water that had gathered beneath his feet.

Water.

Shikamaru just about threw Tazuna on top of a pallet of hewn stone, leaping back onto the platform of a large manual crane. His teammates, much to his approval, followed his lead almost instinctively; Hinata landed on a rack of boards, and Sasuke perched himself on the tip of the same crane, which creaked momentarily under his relatively light weight but otherwise remained standing. The sinister chuckling continued, eventually morphing into a slick voice that made Shikamaru's skin crawl. However, his instincts proved accurate, however, when a small swirl in the surface of the standing water began to become something more. It rose up slow, as if deliberate, and Shikamaru found himself running his hands across the wooden rollers at the core of his scrolls, trying to find reassurance in the texture.

"You're pretty sharp, kid," the voice said. It was young, probably no older then he was, and laced with a cocky assurance that reminded Shikamaru of his Uchiha teammate. The form rose, becoming more and more humanoid as it did. Shikamaru's eyes fixated on the long extension that extended from where his hand should have been; a sword, from the looks of it. It shifted, gaining a metallic sheen just as Shikamaru noticed he'd been staring at it, and not at the man who held it. Or boy, rather. He was right in his assumption of age, as the boy standing in front of them now, dripping with water that seemed to roll off unnaturally, was definitively no older than he or any of the other genin were. He held his sword downward, flicking it once and sending a shower of droplets across the surface of the water.

His hair was white, and he wore a simple purple tank top and a pair of grey-blue pants. Something hung from his waist, a something that Shikamaru at first thought was a scroll but later realized was a drink bottle of some sort. As the boy looked up, staring at the trio with purple eyes and a snaggle-toothed grin.

"You might even be sort fun, maybe." the figure said, swaying slightly like the ebb of the tides. His sword remained rigid in his hand as he did. He brought it up, as if seeing it for the first time.

"Never gets old, you know." the boy said with a chuckle. He turned back to his targets, lifting the blade to point at the old man.

"I was going to ask you to hand him over, but I think I'll just do this the fun way instead." he said, grin widening. The three genin settled down into defensive stances, eager to take on this new foe; they'd trained for this. But Shikamaru couldn't still shake that feeling that it wouldn't be enough.

_**Ε**_

Naruto spun around from the force of the blow, drawing upon all the control he could muster not to grab at the gash that had appeared on his left arm, joining countless other red swaths that marked up his body and had torn his clothing to shreds. He could feel the wound already beginning to nit itself back together, but it would take some time, and it was slowing him down; each strike seemed deeper and closer. But for his plan to work, it had to be this way. Naruto found himself doubting his original plan, but was too well committed to pull out now; that would just lead to his death, regardless. He had to stay the course, else it was all going to be over.

The jounin spun back as he felt the blade swing in once more, Zabuza making another hit and run strike on his wounded prey. The blond-haired jounin threw himself back at the last second, very tip edge of the massive sword nicking his chest and carving a crimson gash into it. Naruto couldn't suppress a flinch as the pain shot through him, but had little time to think on it as the woosh of the blade once again reached his ears. He spun again, but this time did something more. He brought one of his arms downward, over the strike, attempting to divert it downwards.

A dull thud echoed in the misty air.

_**Ζ**_

Shikamaru discovered something new about the kagemane no jutsu and, by extension, likely most all of his clan's hiden techniques. It was something useful to know, for in his career a a ninja he could imagine more then a few situations in which it could be the key piece of information that was the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, at this rate, Shikamaru was unlikely to live long enough for that to matter. Which, in retrospect, sort of made his discoveries fairly moot. Which really, really sucked.

Those tidbits was that the kagemane no jutsu and, by logical extension, the rest of the Nara Clan's shadow techniques, did not work worth a damn on water. They also didn't work worth a damn when a mist kept messing up with the little bit of shadows that remained on dry land, and also that someone who could dissolve into liquid was more or less immune to being controlled anyway, a fact likely related to the first tidbit he'd discovered. Of course, what this meant was that his standby techniques had been rendered as moot as the discovery itself in this fight, and he wasn't happy about it at all.

"Hmph, you've got some fun tricks, but you're no match for a Houzuki," the boy said as he leaped out the water, only half-formed. He rushed forward like a tidal wave, gaining solid form as he reached his target, Hinata in this case. His sword flashed, but Hinata was able to somersault back, flipping off the pallet of boards she'd been forced to move to and onto one of the railings of the bridge instead. Tazuna clung to the arm of a crane, thankfully out of reach from, their liquid opponent, at least while they were still at least a modicum of threat to their foe. Though how much of a threat was unknown; Hinata's attempts at using water techniques had proved fairly pointless, either because he absorbed them, or because the strange mist seemed to be rendering them useless, nearly impossible to maintain. Sasuke's fire techniques fared no better.

Shikamaru was at a loss; he was supposed to be the brains of the team, while Hinata supplied the finesse, and Sasuke supplied the grumpy, and sometimes the brawn when he could be bothered to do so. Right now, however, he was completely stumped, and his teammates didn't seem any better than he. They'd tried team formations. They'd tried team formations modified given the scenario at hand. They'd tried wining it. The last one had earned them nothing but a collection of bleeding wounds each, razor-thin gashes from where the boy's katana had scored a glancing blow.

The Nara boy hoped that their sensei was doing better, but for some reason had the strangest feeling that he was doing almost as bad as they were. He shook his head of such thoughts as the water-changing swordsman took yet another chance to strike at them, this time leaping up to strike at Sasuke. The raven-haired boy flipped upwards, clinging to the narrow and likely unstable crane arm. The sword struck against the arm, casting sparks across the water. They hit and sizzled for the briefest of moments, and Shikamaru's brain began to whirl in his head. It could almost work.

He snatched one of the scrolls off his hips, whipping it out and letting it unfurl in the air. His hands flew insanely fast; the seal chain was short, a fact that the boy was thankful for. He pressed both hands into marks on the scroll, releasing the seals with a small burst of smoke. He was following up even before the scroll hit the water and smoke faded, tossing out six reels of medium gauged ninja wire that spread out in a hexagon pattern, sinking somewhat into the water though he retained positive control of the other ends.

"Hmm, now what the heck do you think you're going to do with this?" the boy said, still submerged beneath the shallow water. His laugh faded, however, when he noticed that Shikamaru wasn't the only one on the move. Sasuke's hand was beginning to spark, small arcs of lightning dancing across his finger tips. Shikamaru just grinned; that was two for two that Sasuke had figured it out, not bad, for a gloomy, antisocial jerk. Their water-bodied foe said nothing more, but reacted all the same. He leaped out in a straight drive, aiming to strike Sasuke with a mortal blow. But it was almost frenzied and sloppy compared to the earlier strikes; predictable in it's trajectory. So predictable that it left him wide open for a swirling rope of water that wrapped around his blade and jerked him down. The rope faded not long after Hinata formed it, but lasted just long enough to divert his path.

Their foe slammed hard onto a wide pallet of hewn stone just as Sasuke released his own line of wire, connected to a shuriken. He curved it down and around, all seven wires binding together as he released the stored electrical charge. The boy looked on in shock as the thin-layer water suddenly electrified and the wires began to glow a sudden red. Much of the water boiled and evaporated, leaving only small bubbling puddles.

Sasuke released his wire and his grip, assuming an attack stance, as did his teammates, as he spoke a simple phrase.

"So, who's laughing now?"

The boy had nothing to say.

_**Η**_

Zabuza's eyes were bulging out of his head; the Kubikiribouchou was pinned to the ground, Naruto's palm slammed down on the flat of it's massive clever blade. The missing-nin was well acquainted with the heavy weight of the massive zanbatou, but now it felt double, if not more; even with all his strength he couldn't seem to make it budge. He stared into Naruto's blue eyes, noticing the absolutely wicked grin plastered on the young jounin's face. What had that brat done?

"See you later!" Naruto said with a smile, causing Zabuza's mind to boggle in confusion. What the hell could he mean by that? He found out moments later when he was thrown back, black lines and blocks tracing across the surface of the blade. The unseen force picked up the large man and slammed him back into the other side of the bridge. He collided with a pallet of stone blocks, causing great cracks to spiderweb out from the impact and drove the wind from the missing-nin's lungs. It was a wholly unfamiliar sensation for the man.

Indeed, Zabuza was suddenly at a loss for what to do, unknowingly very much feeling like a boy he'd kicked in the chest and slammed into a tree a few weeks prior. They say that there are some things that people never forget, but for Zabuza apparently the feeling of being truthfully disadvantaged was not one of them. He'd fought so long with his weapon on his back if it wasn't in his hand, and against so many foes vastly inferior to himself that he'd actually forgotten what it was like to be the weaker of the two. He had known he needed something special to take on his foe, and the plan should have been flawless; the Hipou: Kirisame was a technique that was made for shutting down brutal fighters like the blond-haired brat. Naruto couldn't use his clones or his elemental techniques, and it masked Zabuza's presence so much that he could avoid the jounin's taijutsu abilities as well. It was a beautiful plan.

He was reminded, of course, of the old saying that no plan survived first contact with the enemy. The missing-nin realized in a flash that the shock had ended the little bit of focus he'd needed to maintain the misty jutsu, and the already thinning technique began to fade. Worse, he knew he lacked the chakra to put it up again, let alone maintain it for more than a few seconds.

Zabuza's vision cleared enough to see Naruto approaching him slowly, and his massive cleaver blade simply laying on the ground. This was not how it was supposed to be! He had plans, he had dreams! He was meant to rule, not be taken out by this sniveling little punk!

"Suigetsu!" he called out, intent on trying anything he could to salvage this. With the boy's help, he could double team this brat and end this. Yes, he could salvage it still. He knew he could. He had to.

_**Θ**_

The cry for help reached the three genin, their elderly charge, and their watery foe just as the three had begun a slow circling, setting up one of the three-way assaults that they'd been practicing for so long, but never truly had a chance to apply. Sasuke, for one, was eager to try them out; he was always the spearhead, after all, and he was eager to proves his prowess once more, particularly after the shameful game the water-bodied bastard had played with them earlier. The cry only bouyed his spirits more; it was one of obvious distress, which meant that Naruto was cleaning Zabuza's clock. Sasuke was annoyed only that he hadn't been able to do anything against Zabuza himself, but if vicarious vengence was all he could get, then he would take it. For now.

He lunged forward, sending a feint right hook towards the boys head before snapping out his left hand in a straight-away for his chest. He frowning internally as he saw the boy begin to shift and evade; it was still hard for the Uchiha to adjust his aim, even with the sharingan, and Sasuke mused that it was likely the damned wierdness of the kid's body that made it that way. Still, though burnt that neither of his strikes connected, his job in the attack was still completed as he drove the boy back into the waiting grip of Shikamaru's kagemane no jutsu.

The shadow technique had not worked well on their foe before, but they hoped still that it would hold him long enough for Hinata to execute her part of the attack and deliver a finishing blow to their target before he could recover. She launched into a modified version of one of her family's kata without hesitation, hoping to disrupt the boys ability to escape with jolts of chakra, despite the fact she was having a hell of a time keeping track of his tenketsu. However, that little problem ended up not mattering, as the genin of Team 7 sorely underestimated the boy's reaction time and the speed of his liquid techinque. He dissolved away, launching up and swirling around Sasuke and past their formation, heading back towards the sound of the frenzied call for help. Sasuke launched after him without a second thought, and Hinata was almost about to join him until Shikamaru called out for her to stop.

"We've got a job to do," he said, shaking his head and jerking a finger back towards the bridge builder they were tasked to protect, "Sasuke will be Sasuke, but we can't leave Tazuna alone."

Hinata frowned; even with the cry she couldn't help but worry about Naruto. It was foolish, perhaps, but she felt the drive to protect him. Yes, him, a legendary jounin and war hero. She wanted to protect him. So very foolish of her. She'd never be able to do that that. At least, not right now.

But maybe some day.

_**Ι**_

Naruto had drawn one of his trademarked forked kunai as he approached Zabuza, giving him a wide and insulting grin as he rushed the half-downed missing-nin. Zabuza's facemask had been torn somewhat when he was thrown back, falling down to half reveal a mouth full of sharp, shark-like teeth that ground as he tried to push himself up. However, it was Zabuza's turn to grin as he felt a low-rumble through the ground, one he heard only due to his close proximiy to it. Naruto, on the other hand, was caught off guard as the miniature tidal wave washed over him, diverting his course as he struggled to remain standing. The jounin fell back into a more ready stance as the new foe revealed himself, a scowl forming as he saw just how old the boy was.

"Its about time, Suigetsu." Zabuza muttered, finally pushing himself up. He fell into his own taijutsu stance, one that showed both his physical state, given the wobbling he was still doing, as well as showed his lack of time actually using it, given how basic it was. Suigetsu, on the other hand, seemed more fresh, if a little exasperated. However, Naruto saw something else in the boys eyes besides his frustration and killer spirit when he noticed the large sword left abandoned on the bridge; he saw greed, and knew in an instant that Zabuza had no true ally here. Still, this Suigetsu was an unknown factor, and Naruto wasn't just about to trust that his lack of loyalty to Zabuza implied any sort of kinship with the Konoha nin.

His suspicions were quickly confirmed as the boy completely ignored Naruto after seeing the abandoned cleaver, slowly walking over to it with a transfixed gaze on his face.

"Suigetsu, what the hell are you doing?" Zabuza shouted, knowing full well what the boy was intending, but blocked off from doing anything about it by his true foe. Suigetsu simple began to chuckle as he reached down and picked up the weapon, symbols and black lines having faded away, returning it to it's original form. The boy struggled to lift it, but focused for a brief moment and caused his right arm to bulge suddenly, transforming him into an almost comical caricature of a person, but allowed him to heft the blade never-the-less.

"Sorry, Zabuza-sempai, but I think this is where we part ways," Suigetsu said without looking up. He did so only to glance at Naruto for a moment, "And you too, Namikaze-san; I've got no issue with you. In fact, I think I'd actually have to thank you."

Suigetsu waved and lept up onto the railing of the bridge, taking a bow before he fell backwards without another word. Naruto noted that the splash sounded particularly unnatural, but so had the boy. He shrugged and turned back to Zabuza, shaking his head.

"Some teammate you got there, loser," he said coolly, just as Sasuke arrived. Naruto glanced at him with a frown; he'd have to have a talk with the Uchiha boy about abandoning his post, but there was a time and place for that. He shifted his focus back to the missing-nin, just as yet another voice cut through the cold, fading mist.

"I should have known you'd fall through, Momochi." it said, and the three shinobi turned to find Gatou himself at head of a rather sizable horde of armed bandits, mercenaries, and other assorted cutthroats. Naruto just had to laugh as Zabuza made a look like he was choking on his own tongue; his world was falling down around him, it seemed. Not usually one to indulge in schadenfreude, the young jounin simply found it hard to feel bad when the person in question was someone like Zabuza.

"Figured you'd either manage to succeed, in which case I could just finish you off myself, or else I'd just finish it myself, after finishing you off. Either worked for me, really. Seeing as you've clearly failed, being the useless jackass you are, I suppose we'll be going with the latter option," the short statured man said. The goons behind him grinned, many running their fingers along their weapons or adjusting their grips; they were eager to get this show on the road, either due to their desire for pay and loot or the simple base desire for blood and destruction.

Naruto watched the little exchange with a small bit of amusement, mixed with the disgust he felt for the short tyrant. On the other hand, sometime told him that he wasn't going to have many problems with Zabuza, at least not for now; the missing-nin might harbor resentment for Naruto's part in him losing his sword, but the treachery of his 'allies' would now rank a far higher concern, no doubt. He also noted that Sasuke seemed confused; Naruto wasn't surprised by that, however. Smart as the boy was, he was working with less than complete information. It would have been unfair for the jounin to expect him to understand the nuances of it all.

"Seems you're not my problem any more, brat." Zabuza said as he drew a pair of kunai that curved back on one edge from his belt, if they could still be called kunai given they'd lost the original intent of throwing in the process of making them better melee weapons. Even if they were small, the two weapons seemed to bring back an aura of familiarity and competence to the swordsman. Naruto took a step back as the killing intent radiated off the man, even more than the swordsman had turned on the jounin during their fights, now or prior. He'd apparently been correct, but still underestimated the sheer depth of the missing-nin's anger.

Zabuza shot off in a blur, fatigue seeming to have left his angry body as he did. Gatou, apparently suddenly aware of his vulnerably, retreated into the press of thugs, who seemed actually somewhat perturbed that a lone man was now charging at their line with two knives and a devilishly angry look on his face. Three more confident warriors, one ronin from the distant Land of Iron even channeling a bit of chakra into his sword as he did, stepped forward to fight the shinobi. Unfortunately, even that disgraced warrior, experienced at least enough to channel some chakra, was not able to stop the demonic rampage that Zabuza went on as he began tearing into the morass of armed goons.

To see one man nearly route what was easily a company of men was somewhat impressive to Naruto, even if he had done it himself. Of course, he had done it when there was nearly that many of him, not on his own, and not with two knives that seemed to somehow be seeking out the throats of the enemy. I mean, really, how did Zabuza do it? A throat here, a juglar there? It was quite disturbing, even to a war-hardened jounin like Naruto. And the gleeful look on the missing-nin's face, despite the random wounds which he seemed to accumulate without much care. It was hardly mortal, but the fact that none of them seemed to slow him down at all was just a bit disconcerting. All in all, it just weirded him out, you know? People weren't supposed to be able to take wounds like that without effect.

The irony of that statement did not escape him.

Sasuke looked, for the most part, like he was going to vomit. For all his bluster, watching the massacre that Zabuza wrecked upon the mercenaries and hired blades was simply proving to be too much for his still-young mind. Naruto knew that there was little hope in trying to shield him from it now, and made no move towards the young boy. The young sensei made note to spend a fair bit of time dealing with the fallout; hopefully, in the end, it could turn at least into something good for him. It was early to teach him about the cold realities of their lives, but what was done was done.

Zabuza ducked under a horizontal slice, launching himself upward and jamming the twin knives into the mans head with such force that it split like a melon. Red gore splattered back, covering a cowering Gatou who now stood at the edge of the bridge's construction; he was caught between a demon from hell or a drop into it.

"It's time to send you right to where you belong, Gatou!" Zabuza shouted. The short man was rooted in the spot, stream of yellow trickling down his leg, and didn't even raise a hand in defense as the missing-nin drove both kunai into his chest, picking him up off the ground, and drove him from the edge of the bridge. Zabuza followed, eyes still wild with anger.

Naruto simply watched all of this, and then sighed as he watched the shinobi follow his prey into the water. Perhaps that was for the best, however. The jounin was surprised, however, when Sasuke spoke.

"I-is it over now?" he asked in a voice far too meek for such a driven boy, in Naruto's opinion. The jounin shook his head.

"Sadly, no. I suspect we've got one more thing do to for ojji-san," he said softly, hands moving in a slow set of seals. He turned back to the horde, watching as they began to rally themselves, turning towards Naruto and Sasuke with greedy looks. Their faces turned to shock, however, when a strong breeze suddenly washed over them and they felt a curious compulsion washing over them. The few strong enough to resist for a moment found a small piece of paper stuck to their bodies in some location, and peculiar black blocks and lines traced across their body. Terror filled them, and the rally turned to rout as the scrambled away from the source: Naruto.

The jounin watched as the last of the sealing tags settled and the summoned breeze died down, shaking his head as the thugs scattered; some unlucky bastards who had taken two tags had even lept off the bridge in their frantic terror.

"What did you just do?" Sasuke said in that same meek voice. Still, it was good that he was not so taciturn; it was best to keep him talking, to stave off the shock of what he'd just seen.

"A paper seals and a fuuton jutsu I made to deliver them; it's not really all that useful of a seal," Naruto replied calmly, but frowned when he noticed Sasuke was still just staring at the carnage wrought by Zabuza's rampage. "It makes'em fearful, and then run away. But, it only works on weak, untrained minds. Useless against most shinobi above genin; wouldn't work on you, you know."

Sasuke jolted somewhat, he inclined his head, feeling Naruto's hand on his shoulder. The grip was light, and Sasuke found it oddly reassuring.

"Come on," Naruto said, "Lets go find Hinata-chan and the others."

_**Κ**_

Two weeks had passed since the incident on the bridge. The time was spent training, for the most part; with their only true threat gone, Naruto had set up Team 7 back on a tight regiment. It had seemed odd for the, admittedly, wounded and weary genin, though Naruto had an ulterior motive for keeping them so busy: his concerns over Sasuke's mental state had meant that he wanted to keep the boys mind busy, so that he wouldn't have time to focus on all he'd seen during the attack. The others were simply dragged in because Naruto wanted them working and training as a team, and because he knew that if he'd had Sasuke separated from them than he'd draw more attention to his efforts to busy the boys mind. Better they all were tired, but together, than rested, but alone.

He taught the Uchiha boy a new technique to keep him even more occupied, a small Katon jutsu that Jiraiya had taught him years ago after Naruto had nagged him to death about it. Naruto never had much skill with Katon techniques, really, or any elemental techniques that weren't of his native wind affinity, even if he had a somewhat working knowledge of them; there was a reason he relied on Fuuton jutsu in combat. They came easy when in the press of battle, more so than spending the vital few seconds it took to refine and convert his chakra to the abnormal elements. Still, always a jutsu fiend, he studied them anyway, and it proved to his teams benefit now, so it had worked out for more than simple enjoyment or control training in the end.

Naruto was constantly impressed by Sasuke's ability to adapt the little Naruto taught him into a number of practical applications; the boy had a natural talent that made the jounin honestly jealous. Then again, where would he be had he not spent all that time training instead of worrying and thinking about less savory facts of his life. He had banished such thoughts as he had when he was younger, by turning to hard work; in this case, however, it was a slightly more manual and physically productive endeavor. Still, it was only going to last so long, and the team was getting restless; they missed their home, not used to being away from home for so long. How different they were compared to Naruto at their age...

The days seemed to fly, thankfully, and Naruto's exponentially growing abilities as a bridge-builder meant that the work went quickly, and the bridge was finished post haste. The trio of genin and their jounin sensei were now on their way back to the Land of Fire, being the first patrons of the completed bridge. All the world that Naruto had done earned him permanent recognition from the grateful populous, who were quick to name the bridge the Great Namikaze Bridge, much to his apparent chagrin. Shikamaru and Sasuke had found it somewhat out of character in just how reserved and embarrassed he seemed about having something named after him, though Hinata just found it cute.

Team Seven had been traveling for a day now, mostly in silence. They genin beamed, almost as much as Naruto, at the success of their mission. The three were moving in harmony, settling into a traveling security formation without knowing it, and Naruto just watched with the pride one gets from watching one's efforts rewarded. He supposed he should have figured that a brush with death would have brought about the bonds that could be fostered only in the face of such danger. Not that he was going to be suggesting that Itachi add it to the Academy curriculum, of course, but he would not deny it's effects.

Sasuke shifted the weight of his pack somewhat, glad to feel it lightened by the inclusion of a few seals despite the feeling of strangeness that carrying so much and yet it being so light brought him. Shikamaru had taken it upon himself to help his teammates out, his rapid grasp of sealing techniques allowing him to lighten some of their load, though time, and the pair's lack of ability in memorizing all the seal releases meant that it was somewhat more limited than Shikamaru's extensive efforts on his own equipment; Shikamaru no longer carried any bag on his back at all, replaced by seals imprinted on cloth wraps, marked into his clothing, or traced onto some of the scrolls he now wore on his hips and legs.

The Uchiha had figured fairly quickly that, if Shikamaru had become adept as he was, than Naruto must have truly remarkable abilities as a fuuinjutsu practitioner, a fact that added yet another odd and out of place element to the blond-haired shinobi and made Sasuke once gain furiously confused about who the hell their teacher was. The man seemed so larger than life, but somehow remained relatively unknown. Son of a war hero, and one in his own right; former teammate of the Godaime Hokage, and a confident still; capable of creating armies of physical clones, yet never showing even a hint of physical exhaustion; skilled at the rare and precise art of sealing, yet apparently as simple and childish as a pre-teen at times. He seemed like something out of a bad shounen manga.

Sasuke shook his head at that thought. Bah, maybe not. Who would read a manga about child ninjas anyway? Nobody, that's who.

Hinata, on the other hand, was having a very different set of thoughts. Her first C-ranked mission had turned out to be something far more. Not only was she now a junior genin with an A-ranked mission under her belt (or so she would be when they finally returned to Konoha,) she was also now at least somewhat adept at elemental techniques, something she really had never even considered until Naruto-sensei had brought it up. And she was good at them! Even she could admit that; Naruto was not just being nice; she could see her successes with her own two eyes. Even Sasuke, of all people, had seemed impressed. Which was yet another thing. Both he and Shikamaru seemed to actually like her. Well, Shikamaru did at least, in his own way. And Sasuke at least wasn't so cold. And Naruto-sensei... he seemed always happy to have her around, always eager to teach her, and push her too. And for the first time in a long time. His fervor was infectious. Even Shikamaru seemed more driven, as if that was even possible.

It wasn't always so obvious though, like now. Even though he had his place in the formation secured, Shikamaru had taken his leave of introspection, unlike his two teammates, and taken to the old hobby of his as the team moved closer to home: cloud-watching. There was little else to say about him, really. He'd done too much thinking as it was; it was time to take a break from it all and enjoy the simple things.

After all, you never know when things would get crazy again.

_**Ω**_

_**Gaiden Α **_

Naruto stared across the arena floor, wondering how in the hell he was going to do this. He had never been faced with a situation like that before. Well, perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate: he'd been in plenty of situations where he'd been at a loss for any sort of a plan, and had gone by the seat of his pants, and nothing less. But even then he had the non-plan of 'wing it.' Now, with his current opponent, he wasn't even sure that was going to work: he was facing the only person who seemed to know every plan he'd ever come up with on the fly, ever trick to stop him in his tracks. He was fighting of two people who could stare into his soul.

Itachi stared at him with those strange eyes of his; red iris with the trio of black tomoe that swam slowly around the central black pupil. His hand rested on the hilt of a sword, small fan-like charm hanging from it's hilt. Naruto knew Itachi wouldn't use it, not against him, it was just a nervous tick. That almost reassured the genin; Itachi seemed as uneasy as Naruto did. The fact that he'd already activated his sharingan seemed to prove this even more, now that Naruto thought about it. Naruto let his spirits rise somewhat, but still couldn't shake that empty feeling in the pit of his gut.

Screw it, he was going to go with winging it again. The ten-year-old Naruto threw his fingers up in the seal that would later become his trademark, and earn him a name on the battlefields of a war that still raged. But today, before it all could happen, he was instead calling upon something that had already become his multitool of a technique, the one stop answer to so many problems he had. Sensei hadn't enjoyed his over reliance on the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, but he could hardly argue with it's effectiveness. Of course, his opponent was no strange to the technique, for more reasons that simply being his teammate.

"You're going to have a hard time beating me with a technique that I taught you, Naruto-san." Itachi said, still remaining as rigid as he had before, even as the smoke settled to reveal a veritable horde of his long-time teammate, and friend. They all grinned at the same time, pushing off at the same time, and rushing in at the same time. But only one spoke, and it said only one thing as Itachi finally dropped into his ready stance.

"Oh yeah, Itachi? We'll just see about that!"

_**Gaiden Ω**_

**Author Note:**

Wave arc, complete! Next up, a very different Chuunin Exam! Trust me, it's going to be a ride unlike any other Chuunin Exam you've read before. Forget everything you remember, cus nothing is quite what it seems anymore.

Of course, before that, I'm toying around with the idea of doing up Naruto Sensei Gaiden, a series of single-scene pieces that will flesh out the world a bit, and show the Senseiverse version of some of your favorite characters. That said, I'm interested in seeing what people WANT to see for this, and am taking requests. So, if there is some facet of the story you want to learn about, let me know in a review.

Jutsu notes!

Firstly, the jutsu known as Hijutsu: Kirisame is, as stated last chapter, Secret Technique: Mist Rain. It is similar to the Kirigakure no Sato technique, with the added fact that it drains chakra from techniques exposed to it. However, it takes significant chakra to activate and a fair bit to maintain, depending on the area covered, and a significant area must be covered when it is activated. Mostly used by Kirigakure's elite Hunter-Nin, it is intended to be used by multiple shinobi at once, thus countering the cost issues. And making finishing a fight quickly more possible.

The techniques that Team 7 used were explained last chapter. Just a taste of things to come in that regard.

Naruto's techniques were Souke Fuuin: K'uei, or Paired Trigrams Seal: K'uei, and Souke Fuuin: Gein. The former causes a specific target to be unable to manipulate a sealed object, and can cause a violent backlash when activated. The latter creates a mental state of fearfulness, or amplifies one, and causes the user to feel a strong desire to flee the person who placed it. The Paired Trigrams comes from the Book of Changes, or I'Ching, and the symbols look very much like the seals used by Danzou, as his seal also uses the trigrams. Naruto has many seals of this sort: the Paired Trigrams were developed heavily by Minato, along with the help of Kushina, and Naruto has inherited much of the information and notes on them as a result.

Additionally, he used Haijutsu: Shippuukami, or Distribution Technique: Paper Hurricane. The latter uses wind to control and place large batches of seals. Additionally, the name is a minor pun: Kami can be translated as Paper, but also talisman or charm if spelled with different kanji.

Finally, to those that have noticed mistakes in my chapters, rejoice! I have a beta, a good friend of mine who is one of the main catalysts for many of my Naruto ideas. He will be going through all the chapters and fixing up minor details, as he has done with the first three already. I post this because I loath to make people wait, and really want to move on to later parts of the story, so I figure I'll keep posting till he catches up.

Oh, also, minor change. To clarify, I had a minor glitch in my timelining, so this is just to be clear: Naruto was five when the Kyuubi was sealed, and is eighteen during this story. All of the other characters you've seen are, currently, the ages they were at the start of the series, usually between 12 and 13 for the genin.


	9. Part 2, Chapter 1

**_Α_**

Sasuke strolled through the streets of Konoha, hands dug deep into his pockets, more or less moving aimlessly through the village. The young genin was not used to being released so early; usually Naruto kept them far later for training, releasing them only after they'd reached whatever unknown bar he'd set for them that particular day. Sometimes Sasuke felt like he understood what the blond-haired jounin was driving at, but more and more he was finding himself simply going along without even a grumble; each stupid little chore seemed to be part of some big scheme or plan. Other times, however, the grumbling came roaring back when he just KNEW that Naruto was messing with them.

Today was one of the latter days.

What kind of training was spinning water around in a balloon anyway? Naruto had arrived and immediately began pulling massive barrels of water-filled balloons out from his otherworldly space. Sasuke had begun noticing the small signs that Naruto was unsealing something from somewhere on his person or some quickly drawn and hidden scroll more and more now that he knew to look, though a somewhat cynical part of him wondered if perhaps Naruto was less inclined to hide it now that the others new or simply getting more relaxed around his team.

Of course, that was all irrelevant to the very monotonous and just plain weird training he'd set them up on. True to his nature, he'd conveniently 'forgotten' to explain what the heck the training was even for before he disappeared for some reason, telling them to keep at it for a few hours and then they could take the rest of the day off; he actually told them they HAD to stop, going as far to forbid Sasuke from training at all, for whatever reason. All he'd said was that they needed to learn to break the balloons by swirling the chakra around in them, though, so it wasn't exactly strenuous, even if it was time consuming. He did it once or twice, and once again Sasuke found himself regretting not having his sharingan active while he watched his sensei. Instead, he'd spent the next few hours working on the same damn balloon. It was no better than the rest of Team 7 was doing, but that wasn't the point! He was perhaps somewhat shamefully glad he wasn't behind Hinata again, but he shouldn't be having this much trouble with all these little tasks Naruto set them.

He had eventually tossed the balloon down in frustration and stormed off, leaving his other two teammates to assume that training was over for the day. After that he'd ended up here, wandering a peculiarly crowded Konohagakure for the past few hours. He'd almost missed just how many people were out and about, given how little he actually spent in the village proper these days, and it hadn't been until he'd began noticing styles of clothing from outside the village that he'd really started noticing it at all. Not that the extra crowds were all foreign; many showed signs from being other Land of Fire residents, some even inside the village, including an unusual number of shinobi given how many were moving despite their off-duty clothes.

The Uchiha boy continued his trek through the village as he pondered these facts, eventually coming upon a small cluster of people in one of the random paths he'd taken. He recognized most of them instantly, and the rest with only a moment of thought; the group was a veritable class reunion. Many of them noticed his approach, much to his quickly growing chagrin.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried Ino, showing remarkable speed as she launched herself over to hang off of the Uchiha. His expression remained blank, even as he was filled with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance; he had not missed the attentions of his fan club since his graduation, and he was remembering why. His apprehension grew as he noticed another member of said fan club, but her actions surprised him.

"Hey, Ino-pig, get off him! He's not something you can just hang off of like that!" Sakura shouted, hands folded across her chest as an angry expression crossed her face. Ino responded with a childish gesture, sticking her tongue out at her 'rival' for the raven-haired boy's 'affections.' Rather then returning the insult, Sakura just sighed and shook her head. Sasuke could have swore he heard her mutter something about 'immature little girls.' He raised an eyebrow, idly shaking off the fawning Yamanaka as he surveyed the little group. It was unbecoming for someone who graduated so highly to be acting that way. The girl pouted, but seemed unmoved by his actions, moving with him to return to the crowd.

Kiba stood with his hand tucked into the pockets of his jacket, the head of a small white dog, whose name strangely escaped the usually quite perceptive Sasuke, sticking out from his loose collar. The boy looked constantly eager for a fight, which he was, as Sasuke remembered, giving the Uchiha boy a grin that made Sasuke wonder if he wasn't about to jump him. Next to him stood a pale skinned boy with hair much like Sasuke's own, but a queer expression and air about him that made Sasuke's hair stand on end. For the life of him, Sasuke couldn't remember the boy's name; he had been almost as insular, if not more so, than his female teammate back then.

Speaking of which, both of the other genin members of Team 7 were present, and Sasuke was surprised by the looks of almost happiness, in their own fashions, that seemed to cross their faces when he arrived. Well, perhaps it wasn't so strange. He was self-aware enough that he'd admit to at least having a minor enjoyment of their presence; they'd become decently competent teammates, sort of, and he hardly found their presence as dejecting as he did before. It was not so unbelievable that they'd feel the same, or some fashion of it.

His eyes continued to move across the group, and he absently noted that Ino and Sakura had stopped ogling him to instead glower at each other. The two other members of the group had very different takes on this. One, the enigmatic Shino, was perhaps the hardest person Sasuke had ever known; he was next to impossible to read, not only because of his clothes or even his mannerisms, but simply by the fact he talked so rarely it was hard to get a handle on his nature. The portly Chouji, on the other hand, wore his heart on his sleeve so much that Sasuke found it amazing his clothes weren't stained blood red. The rotund boy was, unsurprisingly, performing a magic trick in which he made bags of chips disappear. Messily. It wasn't a very good trick.

"We were just wondering where you'd gotten off to, Sasuke," Shikamaru said, arms folded across his chest with an expression that made Sasuke think he was talking only because not doing so was more trouble than it would be worth. He stood next to Chouji, occasionally accepting the random chip that the boy offered. Sasuke was surprised by this; he knew Chouji only by observation, but the fact that he was sharing his food with anyone spoke of a deeper connection than Sasuke was aware of. A thought ran through his head for the briefest of moments, reminding him that not everyone in class had focused as intently on their studies, pursuing a more active social life than he had, which is to say they had one at all, really. In retrospect, it was hardly surprising to find his teammates had some links to the rest of their class.

Sasuke replied with a muttered Hn, earning an annoying keening swoon from Ino and a more reserved leer from Sakura. He found the latter girl's behavior somewhat off-putting; it wasn't that he enjoyed her attentions, but this suddenly reserved nature made him wonder if she wasn't planning something. He was not eager to get caught in some ploy. He'd had too many of those during his time in the academy, from more girls than he cared to remember. The girl who had woken him up in the middle of the night crooning in iambic pentameter about lathering his body with her tongue came to mind; he shuddered slightly as the memory returned.

"Seems that we weren't the only ones who had a sensei who called it quits early," Shikamaru continued, ignoring the peculiar shiver in his teammate, chalking it up to the unwanted attentions from the two girls in the group. "Three teams let off might be a coincidence, but given all the other off-duty shinobi, most of them young like us, I'm beginning to suspect something else is up."

"Yeah, but what the heck could it be?" asked Kiba with a huff. Sasuke was not surprised the simple boy was at such a loss. He was about to state such when a strange feeling, followed by the strumming of strings, washed over him. He turned to find the source of the sound, finding a young girl, likely as old as he and the rest of the little group, walking with a shamisen in her hands, strumming its strings. She wore clothes that, amusingly, reminded Sasuke very much of his teammate, Shikamaru; she had mailed mesh under her clothes, consisting of a small white top and matching colored skirt, with a red bag of some sort on her back, its straps forming an x across her chest. Her eyes were blood red, while her hair was a minty teal. For some reason, Sasuke could not help but get a massive feeling of oddness when he looked at her; it was not particularly enjoyable in the least.

The girl with the shamisen was flanked by two others; the first was a tanned and hulking young man who wore a strange outfit that consisted of large pauldrons on his shoulder, capped with a strange blue crystal on each, along with gold plating on his legs and arms, with his body covered by a fairly odd and ornate robe of blue with golden accents. He was behind the girl, but obviously not entirely by choice; his stance said he was ready to jump in front of her at the first sign of trouble.

The other of the trio was a lithe-looking dark skinned girl with hair only moderately darker than her brown skin. She wore a v-cut robe that extended all the way down to her belt, revealing similar mailed mesh to the first girl and a set of bandage-like wrappings in place of a shirt... or bra. The robe only covered about two thirds of her legs, extending down to around her knees, with a loose black skirt beneath it. She wore bandages in more than just her chest, however; they wrapped her hands, parts of her legs, and even around her navel. Her legs were also adorned with a set of armored grieves, plated boots that extended up around a three-quarters to her knees. Sasuke also absently noted that she wore light green polish on her nails.

But what stood out most of all was the sheer collection of hitae-ite she had on; one was worn normally, in the traditional position on the forehead, while another seemed to be worn more like a hair band. Another was worn on her arm, much like Shikamaru wore his, or the first girl with the instrument was, Sasuke noted. Another hung around her neck, much like his other teammate, while yet another was worn around her waist like a belt. But the oddest of all was the one worn slanted across her face. It was partially covered by a long bang that hung down past her neck, but as far as he could tell it was blocking off both of her eyes. Each of them was brown, and each of them bore a symbol just like the ones worn by the other two members of the group that set Sasuke's mind on edge.

It wasn't a leaf, but a set of oddly angled lines. Takigakure no Sato, Sasuke remembered from his old and often boring lessons at the academy. He remembered little else about them, other then that they were considered a minor village, though only just. None of it really mattered; foreign shinobi in Konoha did not bode well to him. He found his hand instinctively edging towards his kunai holster, a movement the trio noticed.

"Whoa, what do we have here?" the lead girl said, red eyes filled with coldness that spoke strange volumes to the boy. He found himself even more on edge in her gaze, the waves of killing intent washing over him so strong they almost nauseated him. The rest of the group had assumed various stances; Kiba's dog was growling, having leaped from its perch in the boy's jacket, and Shino seemed to have a buzzing aura surrounding him. Sakura, much to Sasuke's surprise, had drawn some sort of odd weapons from somewhere on her person: razored caps on her fingertips as well as some sort of gauntlet or hand brace with spikes across the palms of her hands.

The two other members of the foreign group had assumed fighting stances as well; the girl was in some sort of taijutsu stance that seemed to flow as she swayed, almost hypnotic in its movement, while the boy's hands were poised to begin flying through hand seals at any moment. Sasuke's sharingan spun up on instinct, single tomoe swimming around the center.

"What the hell are you doing in our village?" Shikamaru asked, apparently finding tact a bit too bothersome at this point. The trio scowled in different ways, the dark skinned girl speaking up first.

"What the hell kind of question is that? Is this the fabled Konoha hospitality we've heard so much about?"

Sasuke was about to respond to her impudence with a brace of kunai when a fourth figure leaped between them. The man was far older than any of the others, sporting a long white beard and a set of formal robes that were obviously from a foreign land. The hitae-ite around his waist marked him as another shinobi of the Waterfall. He held a cane in one hand, but it seemed an almost obvious deception.

"Ji-sensei!" the mint-haired girl exclaimed upon his arrival. Sasuke noted that the girl seemed somewhat... reserved around the man, a fact he found strange considering she called him sensei. He had little time to contemplate it, however, before the man glanced in his direction. It was eerie, really; Sasuke shuddered for a second time since he'd arrived, albeit for very different reasons.

"Fuu, Hanuel, Seok, we do not have time for this," the man said, ignoring the group now after that single glance. "Fear always springs from ignorance. Let them be, we must be away."

The foreign group said nothing, but leaped off to follow their leader when he did. Sasuke was about to give chase when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerked his head back, catching Shikamaru holding him.

"Not now, we need more information; I doubt that shinobi would infiltrate this far without being noticed just to be caught by us, and the old man's words have me curious. Come on, we'll head for the main gate, I have a feeling we'll find some answers there," he said. Sasuke stared at him and then let out a Hn, nodding. He had a point, as he so often did.

"Let's go, then."

**Β**

"As you are likely well aware, we are on the brink of the first chuunin exams since the beginning of the Third Great Shinobi World War began," Itachi began. He sat at the center of the great meeting hall, surrounded first by the current ANBU captain, one Kakashi Hatake, on his right side, and the chief of the newly formed Konoha Security Forces Squadron on his left, in this case the brother to the head of the Hyuuga clan, Hizashi Hyuuga, who also stood as head of the Branch Family of the Hyuuga. Next to him sat the jounin commander of the regular shinobi forces, Shikaku Nara, while his reverse on the right side was the Shihan of the Konoha Ninja Academy, Iruka Umino. These were the shinobi who were perhaps most valuable to the Godaime Hokage; they were those he trusted, though some more than others, and for different reasons each.

"We have come a long way, and it is a time to show this. Some," he said, pausing long enough for the assembled crowd to make assumptions for themselves, "have stated that it is a poor idea to welcome foreigners back into our village so soon. However, they forget that it is that kind of thinking that brought some truly dark days to our home. Even more so, the advent of our new Security Forces has allowed us greater security than ever before. And we still have the greatest shinobi in the world, something this exam should prove over; it is as much a deterrence as any other military action or muscle flexing could be. Though very few of the major villages have sent representatives officially, be sure that their agents are here and quite active."

He paused again, letting his words sink in before he continued.

"I will now introduce some of our distinguished guests from our allies across the world. First, however, I will call forth the jounin-sensei of some of our genin team, so that they may announce their team's participation in the exams."

**Γ**

Sasuke and the group stood on top of a building not far from the massive front gate of Konoha, staring at the strange visitors to their village as they entered. The groups, almost always in multiples of four, would check in at the front gate, show a few credentials and then proceed onward into the village proper. As far as the Uchiha could tell, they were required to display their hitae-ite prominently, declaring their allegiance and marking them as an outsider. It also meant that should they act up, their actions could be traced... and should they wear the marker of another village and be found out, they risked starting an international incident in the process. He suspected that the paperwork was mostly for show, a formality and little else given who they were dealing with; forging paperwork would be a trivial task for almost any village.

He found himself glad for the presence of his teammates, if not the other two teams; they seemed more or less useless, while Hinata's byakugan proved most useful for identifying the symbols on the hitae-ite of the incoming shinobi, and Shikamaru's deductions proved yet again useful to him. The others, as stated, sat back mostly uselessly. The one boy, named Sai he had picked up after Kiba or Ino had said something or other to him, had taken to sketching out loose images of the entrants for some reason, as well as marking down their symbols. Shikamaru murmured something about 'recon team habits' and went back to watching the gate, apparently finding the activity somewhat enjoyable, given he was ignoring a moderately cloudy sky to do so.

They had identified a plethora of villages already. Most, they noted, came from minor villages, hence why Shikamaru's surprisingly encyclopedic knowledge was so handy. He identified every last one, from Getsugakure no Sato's crescent moon to the streaking lines of Amegakure no Sato. Sasuke was pondering the lack of any major villages when Shikamaru did his creepy thing where he said exactly what the Uchiha was thinking.

"I guess it makes sense that there aren't any from the other elemental countries," the pineapple-haired boy said, earning an odd look from quite of a few of the present genin.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Kiba asked in his usual aggressive tone. Shikamaru just shrugged.

"War never really ended; we aren't exactly on good terms with most of the other countries, except for the Land of Wind," he explained. "Speaking of which, looks like we've got our first team from there."

Sasuke turned back, watching as said team entered. All four wore the hitae-ite of Sunagakure no Sato, the only village from an elemental country still on relatively good terms with Konoha. They were led by a tall, sandy-haired woman wearing a combination of variously desert-colored clothes that made up her full uniform, a large tan gourd hanging from her back. She was followed by three younger shinobi of various ages. The eldest was a girl with similarly colored hair, albeit pulled up in a quite different way. She wore a tighter fitting outfit, along with far more jewelry and adornment then the elder shinobi. She carried herself with a regal presence, and it took Sasuke a moment to notice the brace of fans resting on her hips.

The next was a boy, likely a year or two older than Sasuke himself. He carried a fairly sizable brace of scrolls on his back, so many that Sasuke found it hard to count. He couldn't tell much else about the boy other than the odd clothing he wore; his outfit looked more like a performer than a shinobi, and his face was painted up with make-up in peculiar ways. The final member of the group seemed younger than Sasuke; he had a head full of wild red hair and wore a black outfit and white sash with a collection of small greyish gourds hanging from around his waist. He stare up at Konoha with wide, excited eyes. It was then Sasuke noticed how strange they looked; his eyes, and those of the rest of the group, where shrouded like a raccoon. More make-up, or some weird trait? Were all of the four relatives?

The group moved on into the village, leaving Sasuke to his pondering. His attentions were shaken, however, when he noted a new group entering, larger than some. Eight shinobi, apparently two full teams, that seemed to set the boy on edge, very much like the group he'd met not long before.

"Where are they from?" he asked, moving next to Hinata.

"Ano, I am not sure, Sasuke-san," she said with a frown. "I have never seen a symbol like that. It is just an empty circle."

"Shikamaru?" the Uchiha asked, inclining his head. It was not surprising that Hinata was unfamiliar with the obscure village; Sasuke had never heard of it either and, from the looks on the faces of the rest of the group, neither had they.

Sasuke didn't really start to get interested, or worried, however, until Shikamaru responded in a way Sasuke hadn't expected at all to hear.

"Sorry, guys," he said with a sigh. "I've got no idea."

**Δ**

Naruto slipped in as stealthily as possible, replacing the clone of himself with, well, himself, hopefully without drawing too much attention; he'd sent the clone on in ahead, given he knew he was going to be late but wasn't about to let Itachi call him out on it. I mean, sure, he was more or less certain the perceptive bastard could tell it wasn't him, maybe, but it showed he was making an effort, didn't it? He took his place amongst the jounin-sensei, next to Asuma Sarutobi, sensei of Team 10 and another who he knew only as Chin, the sensei of Team 2. His clone released itself outside, and Naruto took a moment to grasp the memories it brought with it. Good, he hadn't missed anything really important.

Kurenai Yuuhi was up, announcing her team's nomination to the exams. Kurenai had become a jounin around the same time Naruto had, though she was older than the young Namikaze by a few years. He wondered if she resented his promotion; not that he hadn't earned it, sure, but some jounin, and more than a few chuunin and tokubetsu jounin had been subtly, and not so subtly, upset about his ascension; the early rise was somewhat uncommon, even with the war, and usually reserved for only the truly remarkable. Very few could say, with all honesty, that Naruto was not remarkable, though he was held back by old fears and prejudices.

Iruka had told him to let them grumble; all he needed to know was he had earned it, many times over. As per Kurenai, he'd never seen any signs of resentment from her. Indeed, she always seemed very professional. Of course, Naruto found that itself somewhat odd; most shinobi had their quirks, so finding one without them stood out. Maybe she hadn't had the field experience they had, which could explain why the promotion had taken so long. Or maybe it was something else. Naruto wasn't sure.

He heard a cough and a nudge on his side. Naruto snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that Asuma had elbowed him to get his attention. It was his turn, apparently, should he want to take it. He leaped up without a thought, grin on his face earning a few scowls from the crowd; his temperament, while uncharacteristically reserved, was seen as somewhat uncouth in such formal proceedings.

"I, Naruto Namikaze, Jounin-sensei of Team 7, nominate genin Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shikamaru Nara for the Chuunin Exams," he said simply, grin wide. He could tell that Iruka was hardly pleased by the massive amount of nominations from the junior class, but Itachi had given him a subtle touch, passing on a message even through a contact like that; it was not his choice to make, and he was reminded of that fact at that moment. Itachi also, Naruto noted, could not hide the oh-so-tiny tug on the corner of his mouth when his younger brother was mentioned. Sasuke might have been trying to outdo his brother, but he'd be surprised to find that, at least in his sensei's opinion, Itachi was rooting for him too.

He returned to his seat, annoyed that he'd now be stuck here till the boring meeting was done, but at least he'd get a look at the teachers of the foreign teams his own would be up against. It started off well enough, with a middle-aged woman with peculiar markings around her eyes and a gourd on her back introducing herself as Karura no Sabaku, the jounin-sensei of a team from the Land of Wind. Something resonated about the woman; not a romantic attraction, per se, but rather something simpler. She seemed familiar to him, in an odd way, as if he had known her forever, and yet never.

The feeling passed soon after, with the woman returning to her seat. Naruto sheepishly realized he'd missed everything she said, but shrugged it off as the next jounin-sensei and few tokubetsu jounin who had been permitted the rare privilege of mentoring a team continued their nominations. Most were fairly uninteresting; there was no real order that was applied here, each visitor or Konoha shinobi who felt like stepping up to nominate their team being allowed to do so when they chose to, though the pace was brisk at worst. Most, even those who were from his village, failed to interest Naruto. The elder man from Takigakure no Sato who seemed to always be speaking in proverb amused him for a moment, but that faded as soon as the man had sat down.

Indeed, it was not until the last two stepped up that he felt truly interested, and not in the greatest of ways. The two figures, both wearing uniforms and hitae-ite of a village he'd never heard of, stood up together. Upstart villages were not uncommon, but those who were so confident or foolhardy that they would send not one but two teams to a chuunin exam were rare indeed. The first was a young looking woman, perhaps only hardly Naruto's age, while the other was his opposite, an old man with a bandaged eye but otherwise healthy appearance, despite his apparent age. Their uniforms were black, nearly entirely, with the high-collared black flak vests they wore only a shade lighter then the rest of their uniforms, but it was their peculiar hitae-ite that drew his attention the most: an empty, perfect circle.

"I am Riko," the woman said in a slick voice that seemed to crawl into Naruto's head, "from Kuukuugakure no Sato, in the Land of the Void."

Her words caught many by surprise, including, Naruto noticed in another small hint, the hokage himself. Naruto himself had never heard of such a village, or a land; that was a fact that did not bode well at all.

"I nominate Dosu Kinuta, Kin Tsuchi, and Zaku Abumi for the Chuunin exams," she said, and then stepped back, ceding the floor to her partner. The elderly looking man took his position with reserved poise, letting the woman's words hang in the air.

"I, Kaito Ito, Jounin of Kuukuugakure no Sato, hereby do nominate Shiori Akiyama, Taichi Fujimoto, and Ume Inoue for the Chuunin Exams," he said with far less pomp than his younger associate, but the words seemed no less eerie to Naruto's ears. He noticed that Itachi was staring at the pair, and for the briefest of moments he noted the crimson flash that indicated he'd gone so far as to activate his clan's bloodline trait, for one reason or another. That worried him.

He shook it off as Itachi spoke up to call the meeting to a close.

'Let them worry about it,' the young jounin thought idly as he stood to leave, glancing in Kakashi's direction. 'I've got a team of my own to worry about now.'

At least that was what he told himself. He almost believed it.

**Ε**

It had taken Naruto a moment to catch up with the student of his father and long-time associate, but Naruto knew Kakashi too well not to be able to find him when he really wanted to. The blond-haired young man hadn't even had to resort to his brute force method of swamping the town with clones, a fact that he was grateful for given all the foreigners present: he didn't want to go around scaring people, after all. He did, however, have a favor to ask of Kakashi, which is why he came bearing a gift he'd been saving for just such an occasion.

Naruto didn't even bother opening the conversation with a hello as he landed next to Kakashi on the nameless rooftop that the jounin had chosen to stop on to read his favorite novels. Naruto knew that he'd been allowed to catch up; Kakashi had seen the looks Naruto had given him, and knew quite well that meant that his old sensei's son wanted something. He also knew that meant that Naruto would have something for Kakashi and, despite what he might remark in private, joking about the boy's somewhat questionable attitude or behavior, Naruto always brought the best gifts.

He held the gift out, a stack of three novels, wrapped up in basic ribbon. Kakashi eyed them lazily for a moment before his single remaining normal eye began to bulge from his head as he examined that third one more closely. That book hadn't even been released yet! It was still months out! And, no, it couldn't be! But it was, they were signed! Oh joy of joys, he knew it was a good idea to let Naruto catch him. And suddenly, the sobering fact hit him that a gift of such a magnitude would require compensation of an equal level, and that Naruto knew him too well to think that return was anything small.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked simply, attempting to snatch at the bundle Naruto was presenting. But the jounin-sensei jerked it back at the last minute, shaking his other finger in a disapproving way.

"Ah, ah," he said. "First, you need to hear what I've got. I want you to train one of my students after the second part of the exams."

Kakashi just stared at him for a moment, pondering his options. He replied fairly quickly; Kakashi always had been fast on the draw.

"Alright," he said simply. Naruto simply stared.

"What, that's it? No argument?"

"You'd win any argument anyway, Naruto-san," Kakashi replied with a wide and fooling smile. Naruto just sighed.

"And besides, you bring such a good gift, how could I say no? I'm assuming it's Itachi's brother, yes?"

Naruto just nodded, once again at a loss about the man who could almost be a brother to him. He was about to leave, despite his desire to stay and talk with an old friend, due to some other pressing business with a certain team of genin, but was stopped before he could leap away.

"Ah, wait," Kakashi said, a mischievous grin crossing his face as he snatched the books up from Naruto's hand. "I have one other request. Really, it's more another service to you, given how Itachi has been lately."

Naruto stared and for the briefest of moments he became very worried about just what the copy-nin had planned.

**Ζ**

Naruto was amused by where he found his team. The three of them were still staked out not far from the main gate, watching as the foreigners continued to trickle in. He supposed that with the crowds and his little ban on training they'd not had much else to do, and this was as good a thing as any. It was nice to see them together off-duty as well. That was a sign of progress. He noticed evidence that they hadn't been alone the entire time, but any companions they'd had were done and gone by now, likely tired of the minor voyeurism that his team was participating in.

"Bored, are we?" he asked as he landed. The three spun around, apparently caught off guard when he made his arrival, as they so often were. Sasuke, amusingly, was the first to speak up.

"Where the hell have you been all day?" he demanded, causing Naruto to chuckle and the scowl on the boy's face to deepen. He was funny when he was angry.

"I've been busy, you know? Besides, you'll stop being angry once I tell you just what is going on. And, before you ask, yes, it has to do with all the foreign shinobi coming into the village," he retorted. It was Shikamaru's turn to reply after that, saying something very typical to the lackadaisical boy.

"Why does that sound so very troublesome?"

Once again, Naruto was amused by his ability to predict just how his team would react. However, he found himself curious as to just how they'd react to his next little revelation. He drew three sheets, handing one to each of them. The trio stared at them for a moment, and once again it was Sasuke to speak up first.

"This is an application for a Chuunin Exam," he stated simply, eyes darting up to his sensei, filled with a very strange expression in his eyes: obvious respect and gratitude. It was somewhat disconcerting really, but, he supposed, not entirely unexpected. That's just sort of how Sasuke was. Hinata, on the other hand, was somewhat surprising. She stared at the sheet with shock, and for a moment Naruto thought she might be about to cry. He smiled and watched her for a moment, locking eyes once she finally tore them away from the application to look at them.

"Well, seeing as I know you two will be wanting to join, I guess I've got no choice. Dealing with two angry teammates would be too troublesome," Shikamaru said, though Naruto could tell his heart wasn't quite in agreement; he was somewhat proud, much to his own surprise, though less so to his sensei.

"Besides, if you're giving us these, that means you think we're ready for this, doesn't it, sensei?" he said, not really expecting an answer. "Thanks, I guess, for the confidence."

Naruto smiled, still looking at the young Hyuuga girl. A small blush formed on her cheeks, and she smiled back, nodding in agreement to her teammate's words, not entirely trusting her voice while she rode the momentary high, not wondering just how long it would last at the moment. Not wondering at all.

**Η**

Hinata sat beneath the shade of her mother's tree, though there was no longer any sun to hide from. She sat with her legs folded up under her, leaning against the old bark of the elder tree. It was late, far later than the young Hyuuga girl knew she should be awake, but her restless mind would not let her sleep. Despite herself, she could not shake the strange feelings of uncertainty about the upcoming exams, and even if she should participate at all.

Unable to sleep, she'd gone instead to the one place that always seemed calm her; the family garden, even in its current form, soothed her, even if she didn't like how monotonous it seemed. She hadn't had a chance to spend much time here since her elevation to the rank of genin, a fact she sorely regretted; indeed, it had been the loss of her time in the garden that most worried her when she found out about plans for her to move out of the Hyuuga compound, something that actually had happened not long before she started the academy. However, her father had sent for her to return not long after that, bringing a fair amount of confusion to the young girl that she still hadn't quite understood.

Not that it was on her mind right now, of course; nothing could shake her mind from thoughts of the exams, her team, and the words of a certain blond-haired jounin-sensei that seemed to haunt her, not to mention the lingering doubts that still had a hold on her young heart. She knew she was a good shinobi; she really did, not just because Naruto-sensei had told her, or because even her team was acknowledging her now, but instead because deep inside, she actually believed that she was. She had never been able to perfectly replicate the attitude of that young boy she could only barely remember from so many years ago, and his declaration that he would never give up, no matter what, but she was trying. And, bit by bit, she was succeeding.

But even then, she was consumed by the same lingering doubts that had plagued the Hyuuga girl for many years. She knew she was not the martial artist her cousin was, nor did she have the natural talent even her younger sister showed. Indeed, the only real great success she'd shown was in the use of other techniques, though she allowed herself a bit of pride in thinking that was at least one place she was somewhat talented, even if she was still not so full of herself to think she was excelling. She was improving, but was that really enough? Sasuke was ready for these exams almost as soon as he'd graduated, really, and even Shikamaru had shown he was beyond capable. But her? She just was not so sure.

The girl let out a long sigh, turning her head idly away. It was at this time that she noticed another figure, tall and imposing, not far from her, watching with the wide, piercing eyes of the Hyuuga; her first reaction was to think of her father when she saw those eyes, but it was not long before a cursory look told a different story.

"Gomenasai, oji-sama, I should have noticed someone else was here," she said softly, shooting up and bowing slightly. The words left unsaid were fairly obvious to the elder Hyuuga: I am sorry, I should not have been caught off guard; it wasn't proper for a Hyuuga. But the man simply smiled and shook his head as he cut off her apology.

"None of that now, meigo-san," Hizashi said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder for a moment. She looked at him with a queer expression, but nodded and straightened herself up, unable to fully relax. It made Hizashi amused, disappointed, and yet also reassured to see her actions; younger or not, and even with her status as heir in question, she still outranked even him, the leader of the Branch Family. Yet, she was quick to show not only restraint, but respect. He saw that there was an element of small fear, mostly of doing something wrong, but also offending him. Even still, there was genuine honesty in her actions, even if it was muddled by her other feelings.

That respect made him feel perhaps the most odd of all. She was a very strange girl, but in a good way, perhaps. In many ways, she was much like his own son, trapped within the confines of her lot. Hers was, being fair, a better one than his or Hizashi's, but the younger of the Hyuuga twins had learned to make peace with that fact; he found control inside his cage, because even if they held the keys to the pen, it would always be his choice to sing or fly. Or so he said, and usually believed. His son was less inclined, more eager to vent his frustrations about he and his father's lot in life on something a bit more tangible.

"You know, meigo-san, I will let you in on a little secret," Hizashi continued. The girl just stared at him, at a loss for words; she had not often spoken to her uncle, though not really by choice. It was the sad way of the clan, perhaps, to keep them apart.

"You see, the Hyuuga pride themselves on being aware of everything; it comes with our gift, obviously. But really, it's fear. Fear of being unaware, fear of being caught off guard. It is a sad paranoia that comes with these eyes," he explained, expression turning sad for a moment, "but that is not the secret, meigo-san. The secret is that we mask those feelings, but once you block out one emotion, you risk blocking them all. Too many Hyuuga forget that and become their mask."

"Don't be sorry for the honesty of your heart," Hizashi said, releasing his hand from her shoulder, expression turning into a smile. "Choose joy and pain over nothing, meigo-san."

The young Hyuuga girl stared at him for a moment before nodding, perhaps still somewhat confused by the elder man's words, but filled with a strange sense of reassurance. She turned to walk off, heading back to her room. Perhaps she would try to get some sleep now.

Hizashi watched her go. He glanced back over his shoulder as another figure entered the garden from the shadows of the compound. The younger twin smiled, but said nothing as Hiashi came in, stoic mask still in place.

"She is improving," Hizashi said, folding his arms across his chest as he looked back towards the path she'd taken into the manor,. "She reminds me of her, you know."

Hiashi stiffened for a moment at that comment, shaking his head.

"I have been far too hard on her since that day. I see Her every time I look into those young eyes," the Hyuuga clan head said with a sigh. "You are a better man than I, otouto-san. I've no idea what I'd have become if I'd lost you too."

He said nothing more, simply turning on his heels and heading back to his own quarters. It was late, and there was much to manage in the morning. Hizashi looked down at the security forces uniform he was wearing and smiled, small tears beading up at the side of his eyes. What a strange life he'd been given.

**Θ**

The heavy beat of the music was harsh on Naruto's ears. He sat at the high-top table, staring down at his drink. He swirled it around, unsure if he really wanted to drink it despite the high cost it had come with. Not that he was in want for money given his frugal nature, but there was a principle of not wasting things that he often went by. He felt strangely wrong to be here in this unfamiliar club; or maybe not even just the club itself, but to be AT the club WITH somebody. He couldn't really pinpoint why, of course, but the feeling was there nevertheless. It was not a feeling he was enjoying.

The jounin hadn't even intended to go out at all, really, until Itachi had started hinting during a friendly conversation that he was going to be trying to set him up on yet another date, while at the same time being not-so-subtle (a feat in and of itself for the usually impossibly tactful Uchiha) about how he'd stick Naruto on the shit details if he didn't either find one himself or at least go along with his old teammate's attempts. The young Namikaze decided that if he must take one for the team, specifically Team 7 in this case, than he would at least make it his own choice how he took it. And so he did.

Sort of. He wasn't really sure who to take. Although hardly unpopular, he was still not seen as an amazingly eligible bachelor for a variety of reasons to a variety of people: most civilian females were either put off by his quirky nature or the simple fact he was a shinobi, while most shinobi females either harbored at least a shard of old resentment from the incident so long ago or knew him too well (at least by reputation) to consider it. He almost had approached the slightly older but just as fresh jounin, Kurenai Yuuhi, whom he'd seen earlier at the meeting; he'd known the young genjutsu specialist from the Jounin Leadership Course that was required before their actual promotion, even if they'd been previously selected. He'd been in the same class as her during it, and that seemed like common ground enough, but he'd gotten cold-feet. That was another strange feeling he did not enjoy.

It was to his benefit, in a manner of speaking, that Kakashi stepped in, apparently somewhat aware of Itachi's attempts, and offered an alternative in exchange; he knew a shinobi girl whom he'd had a fairly good working relationship with, and suspected she'd be more than interested in a date with the young Namikaze, though Naruto suspected Kakashi had some other ulterior motive, like the girl wouldn't stop harassing Kakashi himself until he hooked her up with someone. Naruto had written off the minor snickering given he was also holding one of ero-sennin's foul books while he spoke, as he so often was, and it was not until he'd met his date that he realized there might have been something else behind that hidden chuckling.

He watched his date, a tokubetsu jounin named Anko Mitarashi, writhe and twist to the sensual beat. He had to admit it was a nice sight. She wore a mini-dress that seemed sizes too small on her already slight frame. It hugged her curves tight, making Naruto naturally curious as to what lay below. That too was an odd feeling; he usually seemed more or less content not to think of the female side of his species at all. After all, when he did, his mind usually drifted back a decade or so and ended upon focusing on-

Naruto slammed his drink back, hoping the sudden action would clear his head of that train of thought. He slammed it down and turned back to watching his lithe date move to the music. She spotted him watching and gave him a feral grin that made him feel very strange inside; he was not used to being looked at that way, and it felt good. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the strange feeling he was trying to run from, or maybe it was a pair of lavender eyes that seemed to haunt him, but he stood up and made his way to the dance floor with an eager grin plastered to his face. It was a sign that he was getting a buzz that the expression was only partially forced.

One of the last sober thoughts that passed through his head was that he was probably going to regret this in the morning, but it fled fairly quickly once Anko began grinding against him, and he found himself grinding right back.

**Ι**

Naruto pulled the strange-patterned silken sheets, marked in a stripe pattern that reminded him very much of a snake, higher up on his body, feeling exposed. It was odd, perhaps, given what activities he'd been engaged in not long prior, that he felt that way, but then again, he was quite naked. Very naked, in fact; as bare as the day he'd entered, clad only in his birthday suit. Indeed, if one had to invent a word on just how naked he was, it would likely be something along the lines of 'nuderific' or something like that. Yes, in short, Naruto was very, very naked. He was not used to being very, very naked. Honestly, he did not enjoy being very, very naked. And so, futile though it was, he continued to wrap himself up in the sheets, eyes locked straight ahead, though he was more or less staring into space rather than the eclectic mix of moderately creepy, weird, and abnormal art that covered the apartment, and the massive amounts of clutter.

He HAD been drunk when he arrived, and likely for the first few hours as well. Unfortunately for him, his unwelcome tenant started to burn off the alcohol far faster than a normal human, and that combined with the Uzumaki resilience that ran through his veins produced a remarkably clear head given how many drinks he'd downed after that first one at the club. Now, sober and quite aware of his actions, he began to realize that last sober thought at the club had been quite accurate. Dammit. Thankfully, he was not entirely sober; he still was buzzed enough to mask the bulk of the strange feelings he'd been having at the club. For now.

As a result of these thoughts and his staring into some empty void, he was also not looking at the other person who occupied the wide, silk-sheeted bed. The young specialist was just as nuderific as he was, but far less modest about what bits she showed and covered. She sat in the bed, post-coitus cigarette smoldering in her mouth and bare chest hanging out for all (or in this case, just Naruto) to see. She was visibly pleased, and removed the cigarette from her mouth to expel a long stream of wispy smoke.

"Damn," she said, letting the word hang in the air a moment before continuing, "that was pretty impressive, you know. I mean, I stopped counting after the dozenth or so time. I heard you had good stamina, but didn't think it would translate into the bedroom so much. Glad I poached you up before someone else did."

She took another long drag of her cigarette, letting the silence hang again before she turned to him, crushing the smoke butt blindly as she gave him a feral grin.

"So, ready for round... uh... whatever?"

Naruto finally turned to look at her, staring for a brief moment before he spoke.

"Sure," he finally said with a slight sigh, strangely dejected, almost as if he was admitting defeat. His expression changed a bit as he dropped the sheets as he began to move closer to her. "Why not?"

**Ω**

**Author Note:  
**Quick language notes:

Meigo-san = Niece, with a common honorific.

Oji-sama = Uncle, with the very respectful honorific.

Kuukuugakure no Sato = Village Hidden in the Void

Also, if you catch it, had another reference to Nugar's excellent People Lie in the story. To those with keen eyes, they'll catch that I drop references to things fairly often; I like homaging other peoples works.

Oh, minor quirky note, the scenes with Anko amusingly were conceived before the story even began, with the same person who is now beta-ing the story (he's retroactively beta'd 1 through 5 now, I think, and they've been updated, if I remember correctly, by the way). There likely will be a few more comic relief scenes with Anko and Naruto. It's an amusing couple, though I can say right now that you shouldn't expect it to last. It is just fairly fun to write.

And, on that note, I must also just say one thing; yes, Naruto just slept with Anko, while drunk. He's an adult, and despite all his wisdom and experience, he's still Naruto, and can still make some fairly dumb choices. Particularly while drunk. That said, it's not hard to think he's been around once or twice before: it happens, particularly when you're in the life-threatening situations he's been in, or maybe even sent on a mission that required it. It is what it is.


	10. Part 2, Chapter 2

_**Α**_

Hinata stared down at the completed test page, more than a little pleased with herself for her ability to finish it so quickly. She scanned each answer, checking them against some of the equally completed sheets around the room. Yes, she had copied it down perfectly, and rule of averages stated that most of the answers would be correct. The young Hyuuga was surprised by just how easy it had been; she hadn't realized how much better her control over her bloodline trait had been getting until she had activated the byakugan on instinct, not even having to rely on some sort of sign to mold the chakra to activate it.

Almost absently she noted that she felt very little about having essentially stolen the answers from other candidates. It seemed low, perhaps, but she had made up her mind to prove a point. If not to anyone else, than at least to herself, by pushing as far into the exams as she could, regardless of what it took to get there. The implications of that pledge also escaped her; they had made it easy to cheat, almost without a second thought really, but it would be a question of if they could stand up to something more substantial. Now, having finished with so much time to spare, she found her brain wandering to such topics, a sure sign that she had been spending far too much time around the ever brooding Sasuke.

She shifted her view without even 'looking' up from her page, letting them wander the assembly of shinobi. Thinking about such things would not do, not now at least. She chided her worrying nature, instead trying to find something that would absorb her attentions for now. The Hyuuga girl let them wander, soaking up the room in its fullness, picking out small things to keep her mind working. The first of these was her own pineapple-haired teammate, who apparently had been randomly selected to sit next to one of the other members of her old class. Kiba and his canine partner Akamaru were apparently scouting out answers, which surprised the girl; she hadn't realized how intelligent of an animal that Akamaru was, nor how far the extent of the Inuzuka's bond with their ninken went. She'd already seen the boy's pact mentality went; perhaps their bond was so strong because of just how much like dogs they were, or was it vice versa? She let that thought drift; it was more something for Shikamaru to ponder than someone like her.

Hinata's mind drifted back to earlier in the day when Team 7 had arrived at the building, ready and eager to begin the exam. What they'd encountered, however, was something very different, and something that showcased Kiba's aggressive and pack-driven nature quite clearly.

_**Β**_

Team 7 walked in the standard formation they could be so often found in, with Sasuke and Hinata walking at least somewhat shoulder to shoulder and the more relaxed Shikamaru trailing a few steps behind. On the surface, such a formation could be seen as a product of their respective personalities: Sasuke's driven personality made him suitable to lead from the front-right, while Hinata's growing confidence was seen in her taking a front left spot despite being the follower even at the front, and Shikamaru's lagging behind was simply his natural laziness at work. To the uninformed or those who were unlikely to give a genin team much thought, that was exactly what it was, but it was something more to those who could spot the signs of training.

Sasuke took the lead right because it was his strong side and he was, by far, the superior fighter of the ground. He was primarily a taijutsu fighter who mixed in ninjutsu to amplify it, mostly specializing in short-range techniques as a result. Thus, his place as the front lead was a tactical consideration as much as anything. Hinata, on the other hand, was a quickly growing taijutsu specialist who only recently began to dabble in ninjutsu. She was fast, but still a weaker fighter than Sasuke was, and thus her place on the weak-side, to support him in combat, was just as logically. Additionally, her place at the front let her scout with her Byakugan, and let the actual formation leader react accordingly. Finally, Shikamaru's place at the rear was due to his ranged skill; the shadows of his teammate's extended his ability and also allowed him greater time to formulate a plan. All of this was true.

Not that they had chosen it; really, they'd just walked that way out of habit. Drilled habit that they didn't even think about any more. It was as easy as breathing. To them, of course, they saw nothing special. Nothing special at all.

They moved towards the exam building at a relaxed pace; they knew they had some time before the exam was to start, and felt secure enough in their ability to climb a flight of stairs that they'd only allotted themselves an hour or two before it was set to begin.

Hinata found that the closer they moved to the building, the emptier the pit of her stomach felt. Her uncle's words had given her a fair bit to think about, but had did little assuage her other feelings. They had distracted her, perhaps, but it all came roaring back as they approached the building. But the threshold was crossed; there was no running because she found that she feared letting down her teammates as much as she feared the exam itself. There was irony in that, wasn't there?

Her thoughts were jarred, however, when they reached the apex of the stairs, they found a large group of other, apparently, genin. In front of them were two older genin, apparently blocking the way into the exam room for one reason or another. She frowned at the antics; this was hardly becoming, nor the way comrades should be treating each other. Hinata watched as a boy clad in green spandex threw himself forward and was rebuffed by the chuunin. He flew back, being caught by a girl with twin buns in her head and, of all people, Neji-niisan. Hinata hadn't seen her cousin for quite some time, given both of them were now registered shinobi of the leaf.

"We're just doing you a favor; if you can't get past us, there is no way you'll make it through the exams. Might as well cut your losses now," one of the genin said, a man with a strange band across his nose.

"We've already done it before, so we know you're not going to make it," his partner said, a boy with long bangs covering half his face, "Trust us, try again next year."

"Screw you, bastard! No one gets in the way of my pack while I'm around!" shouted a younger boy; Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata realized quickly. The boy launched himself at the other genin, attacking more as if he had claws than a punch. The genin reacted strangely quickly, lashing out in a retaliatory blow. Neither managed to find their target. It took a moment for Hinata's mind to catch up; one moment the strikes were nearing each other, the next the spandex-wearing boy was holding each of the attack in his hand, stern look on his face.

"There goes keeping a low profile," the girl with two buns said, apparently directed to Neji. Hinata was surprised; the boy had gone from being whipped to this? She scolded herself; shinobi were supposed to be masters of deception. That explained the genjutsu as well. That little revelation had been fairly obvious. Even without their eyes, the perceptive nature of the Hyuuga, which she was despite her own problems she still was, was hard to fool, particularly with a simple technique as this one and also given an area she was as familiar with as this. She had spent quite a few years in the academy, after all.

"Might as well just drop the act," Shikamaru said lazily, sighing as he did, "It's just too troublesome to watch, don't you agree, Sasuke?"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, "A genjutsu like that is just insulting."

The two 'genin' looked at each other with surprised looks. The rest of the crowd seemed mostly surprised, except for the select few. Neji seemed unimpressed, though both the green-clad boy and the

"Heh, guess the jig is up. Wondered how long it would take someone to notice," the bandaged genin said, suddenly being engulfed in a cloud of smoke that revealed him and his partner not to be genin at all, but rather apparently some chuunin in odd uniforms, and the label on the room to be just a numeral or so off; they hadn't left the second floor yet. Team 7 slipped away from the resulting commotion, heading for the actual third floor this time; apparently, in some ways the exam had already begun.

_**Γ**_

Her reminiscing was jarred as she watched one of the older Leaf genin get called out by a proctor and thrown out, followed by his two understandably angry teammates. She watched them make their way out with a grumble and a shout, but the trio were quickly put into their place by one of the gray-uniformed proctors. As she watched them go, Hinata couldn't help but wonder about this test; why was it that they were given so much leeway to cheat. She had done it, of course, and she would allow no shame or second thoughts about it (at least not now; she had enough on her mind as it was), but then again, she was certain others had cheated and gotten away with it. She had, after all, spent more than a bit of time observing people from angles that the proctors could only hope of.

Hinata had to admit, some of the methods were quite ingenious. As she watched yet another student began transferring ill-gotten answers onto his sheet, Hinata had the most profound of thoughts: they wanted them to cheat. All of it began to make sense; the impossibly difficult questions that she wondered if anyone had the skill to knowledge; even Naruto-sensei, she had to admit, would have difficulty with such things. What was more, they were more or less useless for a real ninja anyway. Sure, you could be smart, but what was the point if you could never really apply that in a practical way?

Information gathering, however, was a very practical skill; it was a basic on that all ninja should cultivate, and thus the fact that the chuunin exam was based around not only deducing the true point of the test (or being simply sneaky enough to cheat anyway, which was another trait well cultivate in ninja), and then covertly gathering the required information. Hinata was quite proud of herself; she was sounding like Shikamaru now as she figured this out. She kept her beaming inside, however; it would do not good to draw any attention to her if she could help it.

She let her eyes wander again, settling on yet another of the Konoha genin who were taking the exam for the first time, though the heiress was unaware of that fact; the twin bun-haired girl had taken to covertly using a small shined piece of metal to flash information to her teammate, the green spandex-clad boy, Rock Lee he'd called himself, who had apparently been somewhat unsuccessful in remaining covert about his own abilities. More so in particular with Hinata and the rest of her team than the rest, of course. He had challenged Sasuke after all, which had caused the Uchiha to do something Hinata had never seen him do before.

_**Δ**_

"Fight me." the boy said, hand extended in what Hinata recognized as the beginning of a taijutsu stance. The boy was likely slightly older than the genin of Team 7, and she recognized him as the boy who'd caught Kiba's attack earlier; he was Neji-niisan's teammate, which likely made him a year or so older. She wondered how anyone could wear an outfit like he was; hardly a fashion diva, it still struck her as being particularly poor in style. She was hardly a mean person, but it simply was... annoying to look at. She felt a bit bad for thinking that way.

Sasuke seemed less reserved about his contempt; he stared at the boy with obvious annoyance. But at the same time, he was obviously intrigued; the boy had shown remarkable ability in how fast he'd moved, even if his demeanor was hardly palatable to the young Uchiha.

"Interesting way to introduce yourself," Shikamaru said simply. The boy looked at him and frowned.

"I am sorry. I suppose that was a bit forward of me. My name is Rock Lee, and I am here to challenge you, Sasuke Uchiha," he said, pointing to the object of his challenge, "to a fight!"

"Why?" the raven-hair boy asked simply, attempting to keep his interest from being too obvious as he did.

"You are very much like my teammate, considered a natural genius. I, however, was born without the ability to mold chakra; I am incapable of performing either ninjutsu or genjutsu, But I have spent countless hours in training to prove I can not only be a ninja with just taijutsu, but that I can be a truly splendid one at that; I am not the natural genius, but am instead proving that one can be a genius of hard work. If I can beat you, then that will be proof my efforts are not in vain."

Sasuke stared at him with a nondescript expression, followed by a feral grin.

"Sounds good to me," he said. However, he was struck with a sudden feeling of vertigo. He realized a split second later that he was airborne, and also that he had a large pulse of pain radiating out from his side. This was followed soon after by him impacting the ground, causing yet more pain as he slide across the academy foyer's floor. What the hell was that?

He picked himself up eyes darting left and right, but he could not see Lee. Stealth? Was this flamboyant boy a hiding foe? It seemed possible for a split second, that the boy might have been luring Sasuke into a false sense of security or casting some sort of genius deception to catch him off guard. Yes, that seemed very likely indeed. Or it did, until the boy appeared in front of him for just the briefest of moments and once again Sasuke found himself airborne. His eyes shifted red on instinct, that single tomoe spinning up just in time. He had been wrong; Lee was not using stealth at all, or maybe it was a sort of stealth after all. The boy wasn't hiding, he was simply moving too fast for Sasuke to see naturally.

Sasuke threw his hands up to block the incoming strike, only to find his brain frazzled when he once again impacted the ground, mind registering that he'd been struck downward before the impact. A single thought managed to break its way through the haze of shock and pain: what the hell was going on?

"Its over," Shikamaru said, watching the fight, if it could be called as such. Hinata said nothing, but brought a hand up to her mouth as she watched Sasuke struggle up again. He was going to be hurt too bad if this continued. Should she try to stop this? How could she? But he was hurting, she had to do something! Lee appeared in behind Sasuke a brief instant later.

"Your friend and comrade is correct, Sasuke-san. You are outmatched by my efforts! You cannot catch me, even if you can see me. This fight is over," Lee said, clearly revving up for strike; he did not expect the Uchiha to agree. Sasuke didn't even look back, simply sighing. And then he said something that caught everyone off guard.

"You're right," Sasuke said simply. Hinata gasped; had he really said that? Even Shikamaru seemed oddly reserved, maybe his own way of showing his surprise. But it was Rock Lee who was caught most off guard. His penchant for dramatic flared up as he stepped back with one foot, leaning heavy on one leg as he exaggerated his expression.

"Y-you acknowledge your defeat, then?" he asked, not believing his ears. Sasuke looked back over his shoulders, locking eyes with the boy and sighed. It was over.

"No," he said simply, red eyes flashing as a grin spread. Lee attempt to launch himself forward, but found his body unresponsive. "Its over, but its over for you!"

Sasuke dropped and did a low spinning kick, sweeping the green-clad boy from his feet. He continue to twist, slamming a palm down and twisting upward instead, executing a perfect acrobatic transition into a one-handed handstand before he brought his leg back downward in a dropping axe kick to Lee's chest. The boy gasped as the wind was driven from his lungs. Sasuke did a backwards handspring, landing roughly but intact as he did, breathing heavy as he let just how much the short engagement had taken from him out at last. Shikamaru couldn't stop grinning.

"Called it," he said, and then began to continue along the path to the testing room. Sasuke continued to catch his breath, staring at Lee with an odd mixture of expressions that Hinata could not explain. She glanced over at Lee, who was struggling to his feet, and felt oddly bad for the boy. He had tried so hard, and had almost had Sasuke. But he'd made the mistake of looking into Sasuke's eyes. A simple genjutsu had foiled the boy; Sasuke had little talent for the art, but his attempts to beat his brother and excel had meant he'd studied more than just taijutsu and ninjutsu, and all students had at least a basic grasp on the art of illusions. Sasuke's sharingan only amplified that, even if it had only lasted for a few seconds. But in battle, that was all one often needed.

"Lets go," Sasuke said, catching Hinata off guard. He turned on his heel and took off after Shikamaru, attempting to suppress the satisfied grin on his face. Hinata took one final glance at Lee.

"I think you are a splendid ninja," she said simply, and then took off after her teammates, leaving Lee to simply stare at their retreating forms with a sad heart, regardless of her words.

_**Ε**_

Hinata watched Sasuke for a moment. He was sitting as confident as she was; far as she could tell, he'd used his sharingan to mimic the movements of the other students, comparing answers to determine which was the most common one among them, and therefor the right answer. And, from what she could see, he had it right. She watched him for a few moments more; he seemed no worse for the wear, despite the beating he'd taken earlier, though she knew quite well that he was not the kind to let on that he was hurting, or show weakness at all, if possible. His pride was an envy of hers. She was learning from him, though, and Shikamaru too, at least a little bit, she hoped.

Her eyes shifted off her satisfied teammate and to one of the students near him, recognizing the older boy as the one who'd stepped in to help them earlier. He was nice, in his own way, even if something about him seemed sort of off. The bespectacled boy was named Kabuto, if she remembered correctly, and he apparently had been here quite a few times before; she had two dueling thoughts on that, both of which she tried to suppress. On one hand, it made her feel a bit proud of herself, given she had at least enough self-esteem to say she was better than this boy than, but on the other hand she also felt that if this boy had been here so many times, perhaps she'd end up like him.

She quashed both thoughts; one seemed a bit mean, and the other was just defeatist. Hinata would stomach neither right now. She drifted her view to another row, frown growing on her face as she recognized the empty circle emblem of that strange new village, a girl with long black bangs and her hitae-ite pulled over her right eye. The girl was staring at Kabuto's back, and then slowly made a move to fix her hair. If it hadn't been for her byakugan, Hinata likely would never have noticed that she pushed her hitae-ite up from here eye, revealed a blood-red orb. The Hyuuga girl stifled a gasp, and she realized it must be some sort of foreign doujutsu. Whatever it was, she was using it to cheat from Kabuto, and Hinata felt a bit of annoyance growing as she realized the foreigners were picking on the boy yet again.

_**Ζ**_

Shikamaru, amusingly, was the first to enter the room, hands still dug deep in his pockets all the while. Sasuke followed close on his heels, already having apparently recovered from his little spar... if only outwardly. He put on a good show, his usual air of self-assured yet amusingly reserved pride; yes, he was awesome, he knew it, what of it? It was just what he did! Or so he'd have you believe. In reality, he was torn up quite more than he'd been in a long, long time. To him, it was one thing to be bested by someone in great excess of him, as he'd been with Zabuza. But this Lee kid was clearly inferior; he couldn't mold chakra, for god-sakes. That was not the sort of thing that should pose a challenge to the Uchiha, or so Sasuke told himself. He worked hard; damn hard. No matter what his kid did, it shouldn't be enough to match up to both blood and effort.

But it had. Not only that, but he'd damn near beaten Sasuke into a pulp, and without breaking a sweat. Sasuke had never landed a blow, and couldn't have landed a blow. Even tracking him he couldn't move fast enough to block, let alone strike. In the end, the Uchiha had been forced to resort to the trickery of genjutsu. It wasn't that he found it distasteful, per se, as shinobi were masters of tricks after all, but for him to be forced to it. He had not 'beaten' Lee in a fight, he'd barely escaped with his neck. Oh yes, while Sasuke was quite normal on the outside, he was seething with anger, mostly at himself, on the inside. So seething that he didn't notice as Ino latched onto him and began droning on into his ear, while Sakura came up from behind and began berating the blond-haired kunochi. It took a moment for him to truly comprehend it all, and he somewhat roughly deposited the Yamanaka onto her rear end for the second time in recent history.

Once again, the genin from his class had congregated, and he supposed that was the natural reaction. They were in unfamiliar territory, even if the building itself was as familiar to them as could be. The noise was tremendous, also not surprising, given the large number of other shinobi present, each grouped up by whatever esoteric means they'd used to devise the cliques. Sasuke found himself noticing more than a few harsh glances in his- and, he supposed, his former classmates- directions. That also wasn't all that surprising, given they were a sort of upstart right now. The only saving grace they had was that the older teams were more happy to be participating at all, rather than worrying about the few rookies who showed up their first chance, rather than the wait the rest had been put through. And, of course, the fact that the exams were at all being held managed to belay most gripes. Still, there were some that harbored an obvious grudge.

Sasuke gave one of them a wide grin of self-assured superiority, which only deepened the scowl- or what Sasuke thought was scowl given how he in was glaring at Sasuke- that the man, a Konoha-nin with a face veil and a set of black spectacles, had on his face. Another shinobi, apparently a teammate of the man's, frowned as he saw the little scene, making his way towards through the crowd towards the little group. Sasuke realized he'd completely ignored whatever conversations the rest of the rookie teams had engaged in. He glanced to the side, noticing that Sakura was watching him with a very strange expression. She was actually beginning to make him somewhat... uneasy. What the heck had happened with her since graduation?

"You know, you should be a bit more low key, I think."

Sasuke's attentions were pulled suddenly to the older boy who'd apparently decided to come over and have a little chat. But he seemed far from hostile, a fact that in and of itself made Sasuke a bit uneasy.

"You're the rookies, right? You just might wanna watch yourselves; a lot of the older genin aren't too happy you're here," the boy continued. Sasuke raised an eyebrow; he appreciated the sentiment, even if it was something he already knew. But why would this guy take the time to come over? Sasuke supposed he could be just be a kind soul, but doubted it; altruism wasn't exactly something he considered to be common amongst shinobi.

"Thanks for the advice," Shikamaru said suddenly, cutting off Sasuke before he could give his own reply, one that would no doubt be laced with sarcasm and veiled hostility. Sasuke was more that self-aware; he had also been making peace with the fact he was, how do you say, sort of a dick. Whatever.

"No problem," the boy said with a smile, "I'm Kabuto, by the way."

"Shikamaru. The kid with the glare is Sasuke, and the girl with the pale eyes is Hinata, and the guy with the chips is Chouji," Shikamaru said, jerking his thumb towards his teammate and friend as he did, "Introducing the rest is a bit too troublesome; you guys can do it yourselves."

Ino scoffed at the snub, while Sasuke found it a bit amusing. It was Sakura who stepped up to finish the introductions.

"Don't mind him," she began, "Anyway, I'm Sakura. The boy with the tattoos on his face is Kiba, the pale kid is Sai, and the guy with the glasses is my other teammate, Shino. Oh, and she's Ino-pig. You can just ignore her, everyone else does."

"You wish, Forehead!" Ino snapped back with a huff, causing Sakura to give her a 'whatever' glare before turning back to Kabuto.

"Ah, thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Kabuto said as he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "Anyway, I figured because you're new, I could give you a bit of advice, and not just to try and keep a low profile."

"Advice, huh?" Shikamaru murmured before shrugging and giving a small smile, "Guess it never hurts to get some of that."

"Thank you, Kabuto-san." Hinata said, taking a place beside her teammate and giving him a small bow. The boy continued to rub the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Ah, you don't have to do to that, it's nothing really," he said, and then reached into a pocket, withdrawing a large stack of what appeared to be cards. Sasuke watched with a mix of amusement and somewhat forced disinterest; this had all came about because of his little glare, huh?

"These are my Ninja Info Cards." he said, flaring them out in a wide fan. He was apparently quite proud of this fact.

"So, what the heck are those?" Sakura asked, curious nature shining through in spades as she edged forward. Kabuto just smiled.

"Ninja Info Cards," he reiterated, and Sasuke could of swore he heard a beat echo in the distance, if just for a moment, before the boy continued, "They don't appear much at first; in fact, they appear blank."

To demonstrate he shuffled a few times before placing a single card face up, indeed showing that they were, to the naked eye, purely blank white cards. Sasuke felt himself being drawn in a bit, own curious nature sparking up as this Kabuto character made quite the show of things.

"I've been getting ready for this exam for a long time. Each one of these cards is chakra encoded with everything I've learned in studying and preparing. And while they appear blank, when I use my chakra on them, like so," he said, placing a single finger on the center of the card and closing his eyes for just a moment. With a small poof, the blank of the card transformed into a miniature map of the shinobi world. Numbers appeared above each of the nations, rising up into a 3D pillar based upon the numbers. Konoha had the highest, followed by both Kusagakure no Sato and Amegakure no Sato. Takiagakure and Sunagakure had their share as well, though no where near as much as the former three. A few other small places had a number of two, usually so small that Sasuke had to strain for a moment to even see it.

"This is the Geographical Distribution of all the candidates in the exam. That just scratches the surface, but it gives a good example of the type of things I've been able to find out," Kabuto said with a grin, looking up and scanning the crowd, "So, is there anything you guys want to know?"

Finally, unable to contain himself, Sasuke stepped up and made the first request.

"I want to know about the team from Takiagakure no Sato, led by someone named Ji, and the genin Fuu, Hanuel, and Seok," he inquired, crouching down in front of the cards. Kabuto just nodded, shuffling up the map card back into the deck. He paused after a few shuffles, quickly jerking a set of three cards from the stack at various places, holding them dramatically in front of his face before spreading them out in front of them, single finger on each and channeling his chakra in to reveal their secrets.

The first was Seok. His statistics were impressive, but not absolutely amazingly so. A number of C-rank missions, and even a B one under his belt. Apparently he was known as the Arbiter for some unknown reason, and despite his bruiser-like appearance he seemed to actually excel in the art of ninjutsu. He was finally noted as possessing 'unusual chakra.' Whatever that meant.

The second was Hanuel. She was a taijustu specialist, with the same missions under her belt that Seok had; clearly, they were not a team thrown together for the exams alone. Strangely, she was also noted as being blind, yet apparently remained a ninja regardless. It certainly explained her peculiar headwear, at least, but little else. Regardless, her taijutsu was impressively high.

Finally, there was Fuu. Unfortunately, the data on her was far scarcer than Sasuke would have liked; her abilities were a mystery, and her missions matched up with her teammates, except for one very strange exception. She had an S-class mission listed, for some reason or another. An error, Sasuke silently pondered, or something more?

"Well, that's sort of helpful," Sasuke said, still frowning at the lack of information on the three strange shinobi he and the other young genin had encountered the other day.

"They're from a minor village, its hard to get inform from places like that some times. I mean, look at this new Kuukuugakure no Sato; no one has even heard of it." Kabuto said, with a sigh and a nod.

Moments later, Sasuke's head snapped towards the crowd once more; that was a lot of killing intent, all directed towards their area, and Kabuto in particular. Suddenly, a hunched man burst from the crowd. Kabuto leaped back as the man rushed him. The man threw a straight punch, which Kabuto managed to evade with a fairly impressive amount of speed. What he did not expect was the sudden spike of ivory that burst from the strange man's heavily bandaged and bulky right arm that seemed massively out of place even on his odd frame. The spike jammed into the wall an inch or two from where Kabuto's head had been a moment before, causing the Konoha-nin to stare with wide and fearful eyes.

"The Village Hidden in the Void is not a 'minor' village." the man said, and Sasuke noticed for the first time that his headband bore the strange open circle that they'd seen at the gates. He also noted that the thick spike seemed oddly organic to the boy. It took further examination, likely only a few seconds despite seeming far longer, particularly for the one with the spike in his face, for Sasuke to realize exactly what it was: bone.

"Quiet down you; you can't start killing each other without us saying so," echoed a gruff voice. Sasuke looked over his shoulder, finding a man in a strange gray uniform, a long black trench-coat, and a black bandana, surrounded by other, younger men and women in similar attire, "So sit your happy asses down before I kick you punks out of the damn exam here and now."

The hunched foreigner wielding the bone spike slunk back, eying the man with open hostility that he masked fairly well as he spoke.

"I apologize; I guess I'm just a bit eager," he said, but was more or less ignored by the large man, who simply scanned the room. He rested of a select few; Sasuke noted he was one of them. The look was almost indistinguishable, and Sasuke couldn't help but get the feeling the only way he'd been able to tell at all was because he was allowed to. He didn't like that feeling.

"My name is Ibiki Morino, administrator of part one of the Chuunin Exams. Now introduce your punk asses to your seats before I start cracking heads."

_**Η**_

Hinata stared at Ibiki with shock, abet not at the things she expected. He'd been somewhat theatrical about the consequences of taking, and possibly failing, the last of the questions. To never be able to test again, stuck as a genin for the rest of your life. Was the man even capable of such a decree? It seemed unlikely, but it was hardly something you wanted to risk, was it? Apparently not, as scores of shinobi began to stand up in refusal before being coldly escorted from the room.

But what else shocked her was that she was not one of them. She hadn't even the desire to be one of them. Strangely, her doubts and fears seemed... cleared away by his declaration. She could pass this question, just as she could pass the rest. And her teammates were no different.

Of course, her trust was well rewarded when Ibiki revealed the truth of the tenth question and went on to congratulate the remaining genin of their achievement. The lingering silence when he announced it was time to proceed to the second part of the exam seemed out of place, however, and she couldn't help but notice as he glanced towards one of the windows with a curious expression on his face.

_**Θ**_

Anko hurt in a way she hadn't hurt in so very long. It was a sort of good hurt, the kind that brought satisfaction from knowing you spent the previous night truly extravagantly; you had truly lived for at least one night, and the pain was the lingering reminder of all you had done. Anko had no regrets, despite the pain. No, not a single regret in the world.

She lay sprawled out her bed, at least moderately decent thanks to having absently pulled the sheets over herself. They did little to warm her, however, given how soaked they were with a number of bodily fluids that one really didn't want to think to much about. The specialist wondered how long she had been laying there; she could see the eye-seeringly bright light of the day shining through her window and wished dearly that she had the will to get up and close the blinds.

"How the hell does he do it?" she wondered aloud, followed by a sore and long groan. Naruto had gotten up quite early and gotten dressed without saying so much as a word. Had Anko been not riding the high she was that might have come off as somewhat insulting, but she suspected the boy had enough on his mind and had made her damn happy enough not to care. Really, though, she was more surprised he was moving at all; she literally had lost count, and yet he never seemed to stop. Or even slow down. Quite a gift he had. Never being one to back down from a challenge, she'd gone until it hurt, and then some. But, as said, she had no regrets.

Absently, she knew she was supposed to be somewhere, but right now, she just couldn't be fucked to care.

Not one damn bit.

_**Ω**_

_**Author Note:**_

The delay can be attributed to the fact that I am both incredibly busy lately and simply haven't had as much inspiration for this part of the story. However, I am getting into more exciting aspects, I hope. Had a few hints on future development in this chapter, and I enjoy focusing a bit more on Hinata, as I find her the hardest to write, really. Also a nice break from writing Naruto too much, despite the name of the story.

I don't intend to spend more than a chapter each on the first to parts of the exams; they're fairly mundane and I simply want to move into the far more actiony segments. Suffice to say, we're getting there.

Just for a heads up, you've seen how long one arc of the story ended up being in chapters and words. I'm in this for the long hall: I will finish this story, even if I have planned out no less than seventeen arcs.

God help me, I've created my own monster. But, at least its a fun one! The next chapter is already in the works, and it'll show the abilities of some other characters that haven't gotten much screen time, as well as have a nice Gaiden as well. Look for it in a few weeks!


	11. Part 2, Chapter 3

**__****Α**

All in all, Shikamaru wasn't really dreading the exam nearly as much as he though he would. Indeed, it hardly rated at all on his just-invented Dreadometer, scaling only around a three and a half fearcibles instead of at least seven, like he'd expected. The fact that the exam had moved outside, where it was a quite lovely cloudy day, likely had something to do with this, despite the dark and foreboding nature of the fenced-in woods. Yes, that was likely to be quite troublesome, but it was even MORE troublesome to worry about it right now. Besides, if they were doing what he thought they were then their team was more than equipped to do just fine.

Hopefully, that is. What did anyone have but planning, instinct, and a bit of hope, anyway? That seemed deep to Shikamaru, so it was probably at least a little bit accurate. Deep things like that usually were, he'd noticed, just like he'd noticed how philosophical he'd been as of late. What was the point of being smart, and smart he was, if you weren't going to use it? At least life as a shinobi was proving fairly engaging; he'd worried it would be more taxing, but as of yet it had simply been a string of boring enterprises that at least drew on parts of his cerebral supremacy broken up by the occasional life-threatening bout with a high-class rogue shinobi. Certainly better than being a park ranger like some of the Nara; the tenders of the clan forests were little better than that.

Team 7 and most of the other rookie genin from Konoha had clustered up yet again, though they found themselves in a far thinner crowd, one that had eliminated far more Konohagakure no Sato shinobi than it had foreigners. His mind attacked this fact like a ravenous shark. Was it intentional, intended to show a lack of favoritism by purposefully ignoring some of the foreign shinobi's faults, a perfect example of Konoha's high-minded attempts to remain impartial, or was it perhaps a flaw in this generation's training? Such overt lying was not something most were used to.

Honestly, it was all just idle speculation. It did, however, pass the time, which was good, because they'd been waiting for a few hours now. The first proctor, Ibiki or something like that, had mumbled something about the wait being 'unlike that woman,' and then simply had them sit and wait for a while before he sent them to the outskirts of this large forest on the outskirts of Konoha. They called it Training Ground 44, but in Shikamaru's humble opinion, calling this forest a training ground was like calling the godaime hokage a pretty good ninja; technically accurate, but massively understated.

The same thing could be said for calling this a 'short wait.' Shikamaru glanced over his teammates; Hinata seemed buoyed by her success at the first exam and wasn't letting the dark forest steal that from her, something that Shikamaru was thankful for. When she wanted to be, and had the drive, she was quite skilled. Gone was the honestly somewhat average girl who just managed to get by, further hindered by her shy nature; Hinata had become far more effective, and it showed. Sasuke, on the other hand, was the one pacing back and forth in anxious anticipation. Shikamaru found that amusing; the boy's reserved nature seemed to have been something of a façade, really. Inside, he was an impatient, eager, and outspoken young man constrained only by the fact that he honestly wasn't very good with people.

Still, he was proving to be an interesting friend, if nothing more, and Shikamaru was surprised at how unsurprised he was when he thought about Sasuke in that way. It wasn't really deniable, the Uchiha boy was his friend. He supposed it had been somewhat inevitable. Sasuke was no Chouji, but there really could only be one Chouji. However, Sasuke was many things that Chouji was not. He was smart and imaginative when it came to combat, though less interesting, almost dull, outside of it. Sasuke was even growing to accept that Shikamaru was better at tactics and strategy, even soliciting his advice from time to time. For his part, Shikamaru found that Sasuke was something like one of those multifunction army knives that the Land of Iron used; a strategist could use Sasuke in a truly remarkable variety of ways. He was a true prodigy, and could do things that almost no one else their age could do. Shikamaru was just a genius when he wanted to be.

Speaking of people their age, Shikamaru found it interesting to see his old classmates again. Some seemed to be almost exactly the same, like his old friend Chouji and his old not-quite-a-friend-but-someone-he'd-been-forced-to-deal-with-due-to-his-damned-parents-and-their-damned-expectations Ino. Neither seemed to have changed in the least, and Shikamaru found that consistency somewhat comforting. He hadn't known Kiba as well, though he'd spent some time with the boy, enough to know that the Inuzuka was stronger now but still more or less the same in personality. Shino was too reserved for him to be able to tell anything of course, so Shikamaru didn't hurt his head trying, and Sai was so enigmatic and blank that he was actually a bit creepy. He seemed to fit in a bit more, at least. Maybe Chouji was rubbing off on him.

Of course, that left Sakura, someone who seemed to have changed dramatically. He doubted most other people would notice that she'd strapped on a fair bit more equipment than she used to have; two holsters on her legs and another on her rear hip that seemed a bit large for kunai. He remembered her drawing something odd in the days prior, after they'd run into that foreign Waterfall team, but he was hazy on what exactly it had been; he'd only gotten a brief glance, after all. Still, she carried herself with a different air of confidence. As far as Shikamaru could tell, being away from distractions had allowed her to focus more on actual, you know, training. Asuma Sarutobi was her sensei, and had apparently done quite a job on her; not that surprising, given she was the only non-clan ninja of the team, and thus the only one with a blank slate when it came to style.

Sakura was off talking with her team, only occasionally stealing a glance at Sasuke; old habits die hard, Shikamaru supposed. It wasn't as if her infatuation had vanished, of course, that was easy enough to see, but she wasn't used to seeing him around anymore. She had gotten used to not fawning over him, though, which was a step in the right direction. Shikamaru wasn't really sure that Sasuke even cared that he was such a heartthrob, given how he treated almost all the girls who tried to hang off him. If anything, Shikamaru expected him to find it annoying. Shikamaru would, had it been him. Thank the heavens he'd been only born moderately attractive.

His contemplation was ended fairly suddenly when a gust of wind swept over the field, drawing most of the assembled genin's eyes to a small tree branch that hung over the clearing that they'd all been grouped into. A young woman, perhaps in her early twenties, stood on the branch. She wore the fishnets so popular with shinobi under a brown trench-coat, and little else, a fact that Shikamaru found both enjoyable in a base sense and tacky in a slightly higher one. He and the rest of Team 7 were among the closest to the tree, privy to the mild groaning she made as she steadied herself. What she said next, however, caught Shikamaru and his team-mates off-guard.

"Damn whisker-faced bastard," she mumbled to herself, clearly using the term more for endearment than insult. The statement alone drew their attention; they happened to know the only whisker-faced bastard in town, after all. "Still sore; he really knows how to go at it."

Shikamaru heard a massive sucking sound and turned to find his female teammate choking on air. Well, that wasn't exactly good. Her little crush on their sensei wasn't hard to see, and he even found it somewhat cute, if pointless and perhaps even detrimental eventually, but it kept her motivated… Or it had. He wasn't sure how she'd react to the little slip of the tongue by this random woman, and the dreadometer began to twitch at the thought.

"Wow, more than I expected," the woman said, following up her earlier mumble. Shikamaru was beginning to doubt her ability to monologue internally when she actually began speaking up, addressing the various little groups that had been mulling around.

"Welcome, maggots, to the second part of the Chuunin Exam, and to my favorite playground, Training Ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death!" she yelled with a theatrical flourish, trench-coat flaring in a dramatic way that made Shikamaru wonder if she hadn't made a jutsu to do it. He got the feeling she'd be just the type to do that, too.

"My name is Anko Mitarashi and I am the proctor for this part of the exam!" she shouted, causing more and more of the crowd to perk up; she had their complete attention now, and seemed to be basking in it. "Time to put everything you have on the line and prove you can be the best shinobi teams in the world. This part of the exam will test your ability to survive, hunt, fight, and observe. Many of you will never leave the forest, and that's because you're just not cut out to be the shinobi your village requires!"

Yes, she clearly liked the theatrical, Shikamaru mused, noting the mix of expressions in the crowd. Awe, fear, and anger seemed the most common. She noticed as well, giving a feral grin in return.

"As part of the second exam, each team will be given one of three parts of a map, with a location marked on each. It is up to you to acquire the other two parts then use that information to figure out what the actual goal is, but that doesn't end the exam for you. After that, you must then go to that location and observe the enemy camp. Don't do anything else and, above all, don't get spotted! Finally, you must record what you see and turn in your findings at the tower at the center of the forest. Only after that will you have passed this challenge!"

"What happens if we get spotted?" one enterprising shinobi ventured. Anko's head snapped to the source, mad grin widening.

"I don't know, why not try it and find out?" she replied in a mocking tone, clearly implying that such an action was hardly a good idea. The shinobi slunk back, momentary bravado fading under the proctor's withering gaze. She seemed to let it pass, turning her eyes back to the crowd and giving a smile that would have been cute if it wasn't also so damn creepy.

"Now," she began, suddenly holding up a sheet of paper that seemed to appear from nothing. "I'll need each and every one of you to sign one of these little release forms. After all, if you don't, and something bad happens, then I could be held responsible! We can't have that now, can we?"

_**Β**_

Naruto really wasn't sure what he was feeling. He sat, as he could so often be found doing, atop the head of his old teammate, or at least the stone likeness that was carved into the mountain behind Konoha. He was lost in thought, yet another thing he could be found doing more and more lately; too much, as the very same teammate whose likeness he was now sitting on would say. Itachi and Naruto hadn't gotten to talk as much lately, but they'd said enough for Naruto to get the picture that the hokage was somewhat disapproving of his emotional gymnastics, though he hadn't come out and said so yet.

What was Anko to him? That question had left him stumped for quite some time; he'd left early, even through he hadn't really needed to, and he wasn't sure why he'd done that either. They hadn't made plans to see each other again, but he suspected that she wanted to. He thought. Maybe. Or maybe not. But probably. Right?

He spread himself out on the warm surface of the stone, basking in the midday sun and feeling somewhat sleepy. He hadn't slept much at all the night before, and that was a big part of his mental state and emotional confusion. He had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that he'd be more relaxed after his little excursion last night, but that hadn't happened. Instead, though he couldn't deny its enjoyment, the mattress rumble had left him worse off than before.

It was such a nice day, too. The sun was out, the sky was only moderately cloudy; Naruto knew that Shikamaru would enjoy it. The young jounin smiled at the thought of his team; he had no doubt they'd pull through the exam with flying colors and was looking forward to meeting them afterward. He knew Sasuke would be obviously proud with himself, and Shikamaru likely would crack at least a grin even through his lackadaisical exterior, and then Hinata, well, he wasn't quite sure what she'd be like; the girl was changing fast. He was happy to see her shy and insular nature disappear; replaced by the confident and skilled kunoichi he knew she could be.

That thought brought an even wider smile to his face, calming a bit of the emotional storm. She was so very much like Youko in that respect, though very different from his old teammate in other ways. Hinata was coming out of her shell, but even in her confidence she was still a very reserved person, a fact that was unlikely to change. She was passionate, but she kept that inside her until pressed, and that was just fine. Of course, this made her the exact opposite of Youko, who reminded him more of Shikamaru in her behavior; sarcastic, often lazy, but always loyal. It was an irony that Hinata reminded the young jounin more of Itachi at that age, before he'd 'come out of his shell,' if his current reserved and quiet nature counted as that. And, in a way, Naruto was once very much like Sasuke, driven to succeed, to follow in the footsteps of his father. He'd succeeded, and Naruto had no doubt Sasuke would do the same.

He realized with a flash that he'd been able to recall his old teammate without the telltale pain that seemed to so often accompany it. Naruto smiled; thoughts of his own young genin seemed to help, particularly those of the girl who physically, if not mentally, resembled his lost friend. Maybe it was simply that her progress was the most noticeable, maybe there was something more, he wasn't quite sure. All he knew was that thinking about her made him happy, and he was far too happy to let any implications ruin it.

Naruto didn't realize that his mind wasn't abuzz with concerns any longer. Instead, he fell into a light slumber, basking in the warmth of the sun with thoughts of wide white eyes in his head.

_**Γ**_

"Well, for a new village, they have an impressive counterintelligence section," Kakashi said, leaning back against one of the walls of the hokage's office. Said hokage was, as he was often found doing, staring out over the village he so loved, stern in expression and deep with thought. The ANBU Captain guessed that Ibiki Morino was not particularly pleased about this gap in their network. This was, of course, a major breach; it was something that, in any other village, would usually result in at least the punishment, if not the death, of those in charge. Konoha was renowned for kindness and somewhat more understanding, knowing that throwing away valuable troops for one mistake was never wise. It would be remembered, of course, but it was no end to a career.

"They already have proven themselves excellent shinobi," Itachi said, closing his eyes for a moment. "By revealing themselves this way, they have made a scene that will spread. Private though that meeting was, I've no doubt information from it has already leaked into other countries."

Kakashi watched as the hokage turned his chair around. Hard to read though Itachi was, Kakashi had the advantage of time and could read even Itachi's stony expression; he was impressed, and rightfully so. Whoever these people were, as dangerous as they obviously were, one could not help but respect their candor and obvious skill. And it was so very, very, obvious.

They'd managed to overthrow a government without letting outside sources know, something that perhaps Kakashi and some other ANBU and experienced jounin could do, given the country in question was one of the many minor provinces that dotted the landscape. However, not only had they managed to overthrow the government, they had also established a hidden village and field at least two genin teams, though Kakashi suspected they had existed long before the village proper was actually established. The entire thing made the ANBU captain think of a gang or some other sort of organization who had been around for a long time before they'd actually made their first 'public' move.

Interesting, and worrying.

"Those two jounin they sent, they're good," Kakashi said. "Very good, and they knew it. They didn't bother to even hide it. The way they moved, their chakra levels, everything. Some would have tried to catch us in a hiding game; masking their true abilities, but making it seem obvious to cover up the fact that they were just not that good. They could have made us wonder if they were hiding it, or if we just thought they were hiding it. But they didn't. They took the hard road and just hid nothing. Or did they?"

"The problem with a world of shadows is that we constantly stumble," Itachi said, closing his eyes with a resigned sigh. It was a profound statement from the hokage, at least to Kakashi; to break his composure like that spoke volumes about what Itachi truly felt. Or maybe Kakashi was thinking too much. That happened sometimes too.

"Deep, kid," a new voice intoned. Itachi chuckled and didn't turn, though Kakashi looked up to find Jiraiya the Toad Sage perched on the ledge of a window he hadn't noticed open. He raised the only eyebrow he had visible at the man's appearance.

"Jiraiya-sama, I wasn't expecting you to respond to the summons so quickly," Itachi said. "You found something, then?"

"You don't waste much time, do you, kid? All business, no fun. You need to work on that," Jiraiya said, stepping fully into the room and laughing. The laughter stopped as he began to speak again, the Toad Sage suddenly sporting a far more serious expression. "But maybe that's for the best, given the situation. I've got bad news."

"Good news first," Kakashi said suddenly, earning a look from both the hokage and sage. He just stared for a moment before speaking again, brow furrowing. "What, you don't have good news too? You're supposed to have good news if you have bad news." The pair just continued to stare at him, earning a small huff from Kakashi. "Well, continue, then."

Itachi let his composure go for just long enough to let out an exasperated sigh.

_**Δ**_

There was an uneasy silence amongst Team 7 as they moved through the dark forest. They actually hadn't spoken more than a few clipped remarks to each other since they'd left their assigned gate. It wasn't particularly surprising; none of the three were particularly vocal, an amusing contrast to their often over-spoken sensei. All three of them had mused that Naruto-sensei talked enough for all of them combined.

It was Sasuke who drew the team to a stop, it apparently being his turn to take the lead, a job he swapped with Shikamaru without even realizing. He landed on the mossy forest floor without a sound, the two other members of his team quickly following him in. Sasuke turned to Hinata and gave a slight tilt of his chin, a signal she understood instantly. She nodded and formed a single seal, mostly out of habit rather than requirement, channeling additional chakra into her peculiar eyes. Her vision expanded in a burst, something that had been disorienting years ago but now seemed hopelessly mundane.

"Find the nearest teams that have already run into each other," Shikamaru said, earning another silent nod from the girl. The boy took a moment to survey their surroundings as he waited, knowing it would take the girl a moment or two to sift through vast tracts of land. The forest here was old and damp, making for a stuffy and uncomfortable landscape. He was surprised; he knew it was unrealistic to expect this place to be similar to his family's lands, but he'd roughly assumed that one forest was just like another.

The truth, of course, shocked him a little; this training ground couldn't be natural. It seethed with life, and with that life came the tell-tale feel of chakra. He could feel it everywhere, a realization that only confirmed the fact, given that he was hardly known for his sensorial capabilities. He could only imagine what Hinata was seeing. What he was seeing, of course, was trees hundreds of meters high that could take them hours to move around the trunks. He was seeing moss built up across the ground, roots that came up to his chest and mosquitoes that were more like birds than insects.

"We can take anyone you find, easy," Sasuke remarked with a bit of glee. Shikamaru turned to him and shook his head, earning a frown from the Uchiha. "What?"

"No reason to fight," Shikamaru said simply. Sasuke's frown grew even further, turning into a downright scowl at the end.

"Why the hell not?" he demanded angrily. He grumbled something out about the laziness of his teammate. Shikamaru just shrugged.

"Look, we know we can take them, I don't doubt it, but it'll tire us out to face them directly. We're better than that. We can get the info without even fighting, without the risk of anyone ambushing us while we're weak, which, I point out, is exactly what you were planning to do." Sasuke stared at the boy with a mixed expression; on one hand, he couldn't deny what his teammate was telling him, as usual. On the other hand, Shikamaru was a jerk, which was about the only thing that he could cling to in a vain attempt to maintain his impotent anger.

"No offense, but it's not the most brilliant of strategies," Shikamaru continued. "Let's play this smart and just have you or Hinata use your eyes to copy the map and be on our way. They never actually said we have to find the maps; underneath the underneath and all that junk." Sasuke just huffed in response and turned away. Shikamaru took it as tacit agreement. He knew that Sasuke didn't like it, but was too smart to disagree with his statement.

"Um... could you be a bit quieter?" Hinata asked. She was still staring out into the distance, veins bulging with the increased chakra flow to her eyes. "I'm having a hard time concentrating." That earned an amused snort from Sasuke, and a smile from Shikamaru, both of which caused the young girl to blush slightly. In Sasuke's case, he simply found the idea of her speaking up to be so odd as to amuse him, while Shikamaru found it to be a step in the right direction, as long as he didn't go the way of Ino and become a tremendous nag. He didn't know what he'd have done if he'd been placed on a team with her.

"Northeast, two-thousand meters," she said. There was a minor pause as she turned to look in the direction, a vestige of a time when her family couldn't see over vast distances in any direction. "They look like they're from Amegakure and Sunagakure." The boys looked at each other for a moment, nodding, and then leaped off without another word. Hinata joined them and fell into their formation much the same way they had earlier in the day. Their pace was steady and silent, all three of them making the silent agreement that remaining undetected was the best option.

It took only a few minutes for them to traverse the distance and they quickly settled into a position from which all three of them could observe, though Shikamaru found himself outclassed by his bloodline-gifted comrades. Not to be outdone, he retrieved a small book from a pocket in his leg holster, flipped to one of the pages and made the releasing seals to retrieve a small collapsible spyglass. Sasuke just stared at him as he returned the book to its spot, to which Shikamaru responded with nothing but a shrug. Sasuke just sighed as he turned back to the opening, where the two foreign teams were arguing.

_**Ε**_

"No," Gaara said simply. He stood with his arms folded across his chest, brow furrowed in frustration; these ame-nin just weren't getting the picture. "For the last time, we won't be giving you our map piece. You will be giving us yours." This earned a snarl from the one-eyed leader of the opposing genin, a tall boy with scars across his face, a heavy cloak, and what appeared to be umbrellas and an oxygen tank strapped to his back, a theme continued in the other members of his team. They also had wide-brimmed hats with hitae-ite plates attached, showing their allegiance to Amegakure. The lead boy was significantly larger than his compatriots, taking front and center as a result.

"What kind of garbage is that?" the boy demanded, hands reaching back and resting on one of his peculiar umbrella. Gaara was opening his mouth to respond when the boy chucked them up into the air with a flick of his wrists, leaping back and drawing the rest. His compatriots were a step behind, leaping off to the side to allow their leader to make his moves. The umbrella spun at high speed in the air, and suddenly it began to rain. Gaara's eyebrow twitched slightly, single hand moving up, and abruptly the rain stopped. The vast quantity of senbon needles that the Ame-nin had hoped to rain down on the red-haired boy simply hovered in midair, as if stopped by some unknown force, which, of course, they were.

Gaara frowned. He was not going to enjoy what he had to do next. His hand crushed down into a fist and the senbon simply seemed to flow together. Small bunches formed and crushed themselves down, forming into metallic spheres that danced about. The Amegakure genin watched in a combination of dread and fascination, and then, with a single flick of the wrist, the Suna-nin sent the small orbs flying. The shinobi from Amegakure didn't even have a moment to react before the balls impacted with their legs, sweeping them out from underneath. The trio moaned into the forest floor.

"Should have just listened to him," Kankuro said with a grin. He shook his head and clicked his tongue as he walked towards the enemy shinobi. He crouched down by the leader, who struggled to turn his head, seething with rage. "You're just out of your league is all. No offense. Be glad he didn't totally shatter your legs. You should be alright in awhile, and once the pain fades I'm sure you'll get moving. Just remember not to pick a fight with someone you can't handle." And with that, he began to rummage through the boys cloak, withdrawing a small scroll with a grin.

He unfurled it, revealing a third of the map with a single location marked on it. He turned away from the seething Ame-nin and retrieved another scroll similar to the first from his pocket, placing the two pieces next to each other. Each seemed to be a vertical third of the map, with a single location marked on each so that they could triangulate the real location once they'd gotten the third. Lucky for them, these losers had a scroll they could use. Satisfied, Kankuro rolled both of the pieces back up and slotted them into a pocket in his robe, moving to stand up and walk away with his prize. He did not notice that the raging leader of the trio was apparently hardier than they'd expected.

"Nii-san!" Gaara shouted. His hand flew up and squeezed into a fist as the enemy leader attempted to toss kunai and an exploding tag into the back of the retreating Kankuro. What he got, however, was a spike of metal through his hand as Gaara morphed the kunai, anchoring it into the boy's hand. He screamed for a moment before the tag exploded. The blast was loud, masking Hinata's sudden gasp. Kankuro was thrown forward, but rolled as he landed and spun, shocked but otherwise unharmed. The ame-nin were not so lucky; the leader was rendered into a fine mist and his companions, while somewhat more intact, were equally as deceased as their foolish leader.

Gaara stared at the remains with wide, terror-filled eyes, letting out gasping sobs. It lasted only a moment before Temari wrapped him up in a hug, blocking his view of the carnage. "Shh, it'll be alright," she said. The blond-haired girl glanced over at her black-robed brother, who was dusting himself off, and then frowned. "Kankuro, you idiot!"

"Hey, it..." he began to protest, but cut himself off as he noticed his younger brother. A lump formed in his throat. He croaked out a weak sorry and rejoined the pair.

"Let's go," Temari said. She released her hold on Gaara, who nodded. He and his sister leaped off. Kankuro lingered only a moment, glancing back at the remains of the rain shinobi and then up into the trees. Sasuke sucked in breath involuntarily, scolding himself when he realized what he had done, but Kankuro did nothing, just jumped off after his siblings.

Team 7 stayed and watched for a moment, then left without another word. Sasuke, angry at himself for his reaction, pulled out a piece of paper and began to draw map from the photographic memory his doujutsu granted him. Shikamaru resealed the spyglass into his book and joined Sasuke in evaluating the map, placing down the piece they'd gotten next to it. Hinata focused on the trio with her Byakugan as they moved off into the forest.

As she watched their retreating forms, the young Hyuuga found herself oddly jealous. She shook her head and joined her teammates, lending her topographical expertise to their efforts to assemble the map.

_**Ζ**_

Naruto smiled as he walked through the busy streets of Konoha, hands folded behind his head and a happy expression on his face. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the busy hustle of the village had its own savory sound to his ears, especially as they were so often attuned to the clamor of a battle rather than the simple sounds of people going about their lives. It was a refreshing change of pace, and a stark comparison to the absolute travesty that was the Land of Waves. He found himself heading towards the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, not so surprising when you thought about it; when Naruto stopped thinking, his brain inevitably turned to ramen.

"Honestly, that look suits you," a deep voice from his past said. Naruto turned, finding a very old friend leaning against the wall of an alleyway, arms crossed over his chest. "More than the brooding, at least."

"Ero-jiji!" Naruto shouted, earning a cringe from the man in question.

"Still with the name," Jiraiya mumbled, shaking his head. "Come on, let's grab a bite to eat. It's been too long."

Naruto smiled as his godfather joined him in his stroll. "Back for the exams, or to meet with Itachi?"

"A little from column A, a little from column B," the elder man replied. "I hear you've got your own little brats in the running."

"Hell yeah! And they're going to kick ass, too!" Naruto exclaimed, once again earning a cringe from the elder man. Jiraiya seemed to bring out that old part of Naruto. Not that he was particularly reserved without the toad sage's influence, but he seemed worse when the man who was godfather, mentor, and friend was around. Jiraiya had actually taken care of Naruto for some time after he'd lost his parents, before the older man's work as the premier spymaster of Konoha necessitated his return to duty; the fact that the boy reminded Jiraiya so much of his fallen student was completely incidental. At least, that's what he told himself to assuage his guilt. Jiraiya had made periodic returns to Konoha to check up on the boy and assist in his training, unable to stay away for too long, though their time together had grown shorter as Naruto had aged, becoming a splendid shinobi in his own right. Now, they treasured the time they did have, even if their careers always kept it short.

"So, ero-jiji, what have you been up, other than perving on women?" Naruto asked as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Jiraiya scoffed.

"No respect," he mumbled in reply. His expression turned lecherous, however, and be began to jab his young ward in the side. "Besides, who are you to talk? I hear you've been getting some action of your own lately."

"W-what?" Naruto exclaimed. How had he heard about that? "It was just one girl!"

"Aha! I knew it! Now tell me boy, who is it?"

Naruto harrumphed and folded his arms, mumbling his reply. "Her name is Anko Mitarashi. Kakashi introduced us." Jiraiya came to a full halt, earning a queer look from Naruto. What was ero-jiji up to now?

"Wow," was all he said for a moment, a truly surprised look on his face as he recognized the name of his old teammate's apprentice. "You sure know how to pick 'em, kid."

_**Η**_

Hinata had found the carnage that resulted from the exploding tag earlier to be particularly shocking; stomach-flipping, mind-shaking, fear-inspiringly shocking, really. She realized in a cerebral way that she would have to get used to such things, or at least steel herself against them. Her line of work was going to make that very necessary. That did nothing to make it any easier, of course, and she felt the bile rise in her gut as she tried to force herself to look at the absolute carnage of the battleground that Team 7 had run across.

They had discovered the site mostly by accident. Hinata hadn't intended to look for it, but in her search for chakra signatures to lock on to she came to this glowing beacon of oddness. She hadn't spent too much time looking at the site itself, as the very sight of the odd chakra was offensive to her eyes; it burnt them, but not really, and it caused them to itch, but not really that either. It was odd; looking at it made her feel queasy, yet once she'd brought her team to it she found that looking at it was far better than the alternative, even if it was making her nauseous. She threw herself into examining the site.

The thing that she noticed first, as befitting a person with her gift, was the foul orange-yellow chakra that permuted the area, bleeding out from the odd purplish ooze that carpeted the landscape and the strange purple spires tipped and lined with ivory spikes. They were, of course, the second thing she noticed; the odd spires seemed to throb and pulse with the chakra, each thrum sending a visible wave through the creeping ooze. Hinata tried to focus on that steady thrum. Anything but the bodies, or what was left of them.

Sasuke was crouched near one a few feet away. He was unwilling to go any closer, but it already seemed amazing to the young Hyuuga girl. The corpse was rended and torn, as if savaged by some monstrous creature. Bones were snapped in some places and sheared in others, and were among the few bits that designated the remains as human. Small bits of cloth could be seen, along with a soft glimmer of metal that caught Sasuke's eye. He stepped forward, emboldened for a moment, and used a kunai to push through the remains. Hinata felt sick.

"Bit disrespectful, don't you think?" Shikamaru said. Sasuke didn't reply, his brow furrowing as he focused on pushing through the meaty mush. The whole mess of it seemed to ooze at times, swallowing little bits of what he'd seen, but the entire concept seemed at odds with his rational mind. Finally, he came across his prize, a gore-soaked hitae-ite, bearing the emblem of a single empty circle. Curious.

After a moment, Sasuke attempted to spear the cloth with the kunai and lift it out, but the soaked cloth seemed oddly hard to cut and he lacked leverage. After a few failed attempts he simply grunted in frustration, tossed aside the kunai, and reached into the savaged carcass, wrenching the hitae-ite out with a meaty slurp. He held it up, bits of corpse dripping off. Sasuke reeled at the sudden stench and flicked it away. It flew and impacted the ground, next to Hinata's feet. Both of the male members of Team 7 watched as she stared at it. Shikamaru sighed. Sasuke cursed.

Hinata bolted.

She didn't know where she was going, she didn't know where she even wanted to go. All she knew was that she had to get out of there. The scratching at the back of here eyes was driving her to lunacy. She heard something odd after seeing those spikes and that chakra, a sound like a chittering cackle, and she knew she had to run. She had to get out. Why didn't she faint? She had fainted in response to things before. Rational thought left her, replaced only by a mad desire to escape the nebulous corruption that she couldn't even explain.

Without the pretense of stealth, Hinata was remarkably fast, driven by her momentary madness. She tore through the woods, making noise that was sure to grab all kinds of bad attention. Still, Sasuke couldn't help but be impressed even as he let off another curse at the girl's reaction. What the hell was that about? Had she really just reacted to the bodies like that? Shikamaru was lagging behind him, he knew, and the Uchiha found that he was suddenly having to choose between leaving one teammate behind or letting another run off in a crazed dash.

Shikamaru spoke as if he could read minds. Sasuke had no time to dwell on this preternatural ability. "Go, I'll be fine! She's the one who needs help!"

Sasuke reacted without much thought, shooting off after Hinata with a sudden burst of speed that exceeded even the girl's mad rush, if only slightly. He caught sight of her just in time to see another blur intercept her, sending her crashing into the forest floor with a thunderous crash.

"Hina-ERK!" Sasuke attempted to cry out, but suddenly found he was joining his teammate. He bounced once, skidding along the ground as he hit it a second time, then slammed into one of the massive trunks. Struggling to look up, Sasuke's eyes latched onto the first distinct thing he could find, a silver metal panel bearing a single empty sphere.

"Well, seems like our hand has been forced," Dosu said. His left hand was rubbing up and down the heavily bandaged right arm, an arm that was grotesque in size and shape. Zaku landed next to him, bandages on his own left arm already falling away. Kin came up from behind, hand resting on her hitae-ite. "We'd hoped to wait till you were weaker, but this'll do."

To his credit, Sasuke recovered quickly. He pushed up and assumed a defensive stance, sharingan activating reflexively. That was something he was doing more and more of lately. Hinata, to _her_ credit, recovered at least half as fast. She had landed not too far from Sasuke, head suddenly jarred clear by the impact. She stared at the trio of foreign shinobi, struggling up just as Shikamaru arrived, crouching on a branch. Dosu looked up, face twisting into a smile beneath his bandaged face.

"Oh, good, you're all here," he said, "and that means we can begin. Taking out three clan heirs, and the brother of the hokage no less, should be a nice way to show our _little__village's_power."

Sasuke grit his teeth. So much for not fighting.

_**Ω**_

_**Gaiden Α**_

The flames shot up the straw figure as if they'd been struck by a backdraft, bursting in an impressive display of pyrotechnics. They burned hotter than any natural fire, flaring and sucking the oxygen out of the air, dampening the flames for a moment before a burst of wind reignited the blaze and sent an arc of flame off to strike another straw dummy ten meters away. The flame burnt unnaturally downwards this time, engulfing the figure in seconds and spreading across even the rocky ground, another queer sight that would have seemed odd to normal folk. To the two figures watching it, it was simply working how it should.

The tallest of the pair, a dark-skinned and inexplicably blond-haired man with a goatee and a hitae-ite that proclaimed his allegiance to Kumogakure no Sato, wore the flak jacket of that village, as well as a peculiar selection of seven swords across his body. The younger of the two was a girl, perhaps thirteen in age, with paler yet stilled tanned skin and long, flowing red hair that hung down well past her waist. Her clothing was a simple long-sleeved and two-tone top of black and purple, with pants of a darker shade of purple and a red belt. Her own hitae-ite, much like that of the elder shinobi, had the three-cloud symbol of Kumogakure.

Both of the ninja were in a strange place, an underground facility of some sort, furnished with various training aids and tools. In this case, a circle of almost a dozen straw dummies was set up, doused with water; such a tactic was a common training aid for those seeking to improve their mastery over Katon techniques. By dousing the dummies, the shinobi had to amplify the heat of their techniques, requiring more control of their chakra.

The young blond girl lashed out, fingers dancing in peculiar combinations of chakra-molding symbols. Each hand formed its own seals as she moved, and the fire moved with her, dancing with her, snaking across the ground with a strange precision. She whipped her hands forward, both fingers forming the same seal, and the flames shot out to engulf yet another straw target. The girl moved her hands in a wider arc, swinging her right arm over and pulling the left inward, seals forming yet again. The flames burst as another backdraft was triggered, sending a lance of fire to engulf yet another target.

She spun on her heals, eying the taller and darker shinobi with eagerness in her eyes. He smiled at her, assuming a peculiar stance as he 'threw up the horns,' albeit upside down, and began to rhyme.

"Ah, ah, hey, hey, you know that's the way."

"You got the skills, and you got the style."

"Yeah yeah, saying otherwise would be denial."

"You got the style, and you got the skills."

"The way you made that fire dance, baby, it gave me chills," he blurted out, causing the girl's smile to widen. She threw herself onto the large man, engulfing him in as mighty a hug as she could muster.

"Thank you, Bee-sensei!" Masuyo San'i squealed, very much like the young thirteen-year-old girl she was. She looked up at him and continued to smile, an act that made her eyes seem to sparkle, and the small, almost feminine whisker-marks on her cheeks seem somehow more prominent. The two-tailed jinchuuriki was pleased to no end; she was finally getting control of her beast, just like Bee-sensei.

_**Gaiden Ω**_

_**Author Note:**_

I suppose I should explain one minor thing that has come up in reviews; there are some changes that seem arbitrary, yes, less butterfly flapping its wings and more my own personal desires. This is more than a simple for want of a nail story, it is really a full on AU, likely to have differences based on that simple fact. However, that is not to say that any change is truly arbitrary; it simply all links to the TRUE nail that has yet to be revealed, and is likely over a dozen and a half arcs away from being revealed. Yes, simply put, if you want the WHOLE truth, you're in for a long haul. Or you can just attribute it to being an AU and go with that. :P

There is more to the Gaiden than meets the eye too. Sadly, that too is a plot far in advance of the story. I just like to tease, and keep ideas fresh in my head, so yeah. The lack of Yugito shall play an interesting role later on.

_**Beta Note:**_

Hi! I'm the beta reader. This is the first chapter I've edited prior to it being posted, and I've done more significant editing this time around. One of the main things I've tried to do is make it less clinical and more conversational. Is it noticeable? Is it desirable, if so? Let me know. :P


	12. Part 2, Chapter 4

_**Α**_

Sasuke threw a quick jab, knowing full well that the girl was going to counter it. He shifted into a feint, throwing a kick that was blocked similarly, much to his growing frustration. His opponent countered with a fast series of punches, but Sasuke saw them coming before she even committed; which was, of course, the pattern for the entire fight. He deflected blows, returned his own, and was repelled like before. Punch, parry, thrust, counter, kick, dodge, throw, block, parry, counter, thrust; an endless chain of strikes and blocks, each one more predictable than the last as they grew progressively used to the other's fighting style.

They'd been fighting for quite some time, making a mess of the clearing. They would clash for a few moments before bounding off to perform a technique or two in a futile attempt at swinging the fight in their favor, and clash again when it inevitably failed. Sasuke found himself becoming more and more frustrated with each passing moment. The tomoe of his sharingan spun wildly but impotently.

"Give it up, Uchiha!" the girl shouted. She was trying something new, another fluid combination, but found it a futile gesture. Sasuke saw every blow as she made it and moved to react, deflecting the strikes with practiced precision. Unfortunately for him, his attacks failed as well, and they found themselves launching away from each other once again. Sasuke glowered at his opponent's abnormal red eye. It seemed to glow with an inner fire, boring into his head.

"My Hiirogan is the superior doujutsu," she had said before they'd even begun. Their red eyes had been locked together, each analyzing every movement the other made. The girl took this as motivation to continue her explanation. "While your sharingan may let you predict my moves, my Hiirogan lets me _know_ what you're going to do." To that, Sasuke had just grinned. It was not the response that she had been expecting, nor the one she wanted.

"You smug bastard," she had said, and launched the first attack of the fight. Sasuke slipped out of the way and deflected the blow, launching a counter that, in his mind's eye, sent her flying back to sprawl out on the ground. Unfortunately, reality was not so kind. She instead moved defensively, shoving herself away and skidding back across the forest floor.

"You think you're so great, don't you?" she began, falling back into an aggressive stance with a fluid motion. Sasuke was more relaxed, tomoe spinning around his black pupil as if to mock her solid red eye. "I had to _fight_ to earn my doujutsu! I'm worthy of it! Me, not my blood! That's why Kuukuugakure will always be superior to any of your worthless ancient villages!"

Sasuke's expression darkened at her words, which she took for a small moral victory. It seemed to be his turn to take the offensive, and take it he did. Unfortunately, yet again, nothing changed, and they fell back into the rhythmic flow of combat.

Meanwhile, in a fight both similar and different, another conflict between two kekkei genkai was taking place. Much like the first, it was a fight between lineage and merit. Hinata moved as if she was dancing, evading blows in their entirety; the sum total of her family's gentle fist style was being tested. Unfortunately her opponent, while wild and untamed in his responses, made up for it with greater speed and experience. However, neither of them was willing to commit to a blow; the moment one landed, the battle was over.

Hinata had spotted his peculiarities fairly quickly; though the boy's arm seemed strange in many respects, his palm was the worst of it. There was a strange absence of chakra, the likes of which she hadn't seen before. She had studied her foe very carefully before they began; he was taller, and had a greater reach, but she was more flexible and, based on what she could see of his chakra network, faster as well. The boy adjusted his odd, almost helmet-like hitae-ite as they stared at each other.

"A girl," he said. The words dripped with derision. Hinata shrunk back for a moment, but that faded into a sort of anger as his face hardened. No, she would not allow him to look at her that way. Naruto-sensei believed in her and that was all that mattered. The boy was speaking again, but Hinata couldn't hear him. She blocked out his words, just as she'd ignored what that other instructor said that had startled her so. She settled into her stance, and then moved.

It caught him off guard, but the blow was glancing at best. He reacted without hesitation; knowing, from what had been drilled into him and his classmates about Konoha's kekkei genkai and their bearers, that getting hit would spell his doom. Like hell he was going to let this girl take him down. Zaku had been, like so many others, taken in by the Village Hidden in the Void as an orphan. He'd been hand-picked for his drive and determination, having literally killed for his position. There was no way some simpering and pampered incestuous clanspawn from somwhere as pathetic as Konohagakure was going to be the end of him.

That was, of course, what this was all about. Zaku, like the rest of his team, did not think in terms of victory and defeat like Naruto's students did. Kuukuugakure no Sato had made defeat and death synonymous in a way that even Kirigakure could not match. It was obvious in the way he fought, in the way he moved, and Hinata picked up on it quickly. His repeated attempts to strike at her vital organs made it clear that he had no intentions of landing anything other than a fatal blow.

The third and final members of both teams were also engaged in a kind of battle, but theirs was far less physical in nature. Shikamaru and the bandaged shinobi with the grotesquely bulging arm had left the more energetic enmity to their teammates, keeping their own conflict far more reserved. Shikamaru had a book out, holding it open with his left hand, while his opponent held his grievously misshapen appendage on the ground, crouched and primed.

"This is far more trouble that I was expecting, honestly," Shikamaru said with a sigh. He scratched the back of his head as he did. "I thought I had this figured out, you know. I really did. I'd get my team through without having much of a fight, we'd make our sensei happy, and I wouldn't have to do much at all. It was so simple, really; our team is unbelievably perfect for this assignment, smart enough to take the road less traveled and not try to beat the tar out of everyone. It was perfect.

"But we had to come across your buddies, and Hinata... she obviously didn't take that well. Then again, I guess you knew that, 'cause you've been following us for awhile, haven't you? Hell, from what you've said, you've not only been following us, you were sent specifically to target us; you've got bloodlines designed to perfectly match those of our team." Shikamaru motioned to the other fights with one hand, never taking his eyes off the bandaged boy. "Which means there is more to this than simply showing up the hokage's brother, isn't there?"

"Seeing underneath the underneath," the bandaged boy replied. "A shinobi trait. Impressive. However, you can stop trying to get your wires into position any time you like."

What followed was a flurry of action that even those involved had a hard time following. The wires that Shikamaru had been manipulating, positioned with movements hidden behind scratches and gesticulations, whipped up into a flurry, casting thin but very real shadows around his foe. The bandaged boy responded by slashing at the metal with a piece of bone that suddenly protruded from his bloated arm. The blade was effective in shattering the wires, but Shikamaru, inspired by stories of his clan's Kage Nui no Jutsu, whipped and curled them around the other boy's body. By the time the two were still again, both his wires and shadows held his foe immobile.

Shikamaru panted. Fights were supposed to be glamorous, weren't they? He was sorely disappointed. All the fights that he'd been involved in so far were quick, brutal, and nasty; far from the elegant displays of prowess years of movies and bad books had told him, let alone his elders' stories of their own exploits. The Nara boy was beginning to sorely question his career choice. He glanced to the side, catching sight of Hinata panting madly, her foe sprawled out in front of her. The boy was pretty clearly dead if the blood trickling from his mouth and nose was any indication, and he sent up a silent prayer that the Hyuuga and their Gentle Fist (what a misnomer that was) were aligned so closely to the house of Senju and, by extension, Konoha.

Sasuke was also standing over his foe, his hand crackling with electrical energy. Shikamaru had noticed how much his Uchiha teammate enjoyed using that jutsu, and wondered how Naruto-sensei had known to teach it. Another mystery, perhaps; Naruto-sensei sometimes seemed so inhumanly aware that Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder how he pulled it off.

"You're wrong, you know," Sasuke said, staring down at his defeated foe. She was laying face-up, tears streaming from the eye she was born with. The tear ducts in the other had been damaged in the transplant process; her protection of the 'gifted' doujutsu was as much about protecting the eye itself was it was preserving her chakra, not that it seemed to matter anymore. Her legs were sizzling, and she could smell her own smoking meat. How odd it was that in her moment of defeat she could find at least some grudging respect for her opponent: that was a clever use of tools, wire, and jutsu.

"You're wrong," he repeated, that smug Uchiha bastard. She stared up at him, teeth gritting against the pain. His eyes seemed different. Physically different, not just a reflection of his emotions; where once was a single tomoe swimming in the red iris, now there were two, matched in their spiraling dance.

"I worked for my skill. Every. Single. Day. I may be a prodigy, they tell me I am, but that's just my potential. I've still worked for everything I have," he said, face hard but proud. How she hated him for it, but he'd earned it. That bastard. "Is that fair? That I can work as hard as anyone, but because of natural talent I will succeed where they may fail? I guess it isn't, but life isn't fair. Maybe if you hadn't been so blinded by your ego, acting like somehow those with natural talent don't have to do anything to develop it, then maybe, just maybe, you'd be the one standing up here gloating, instead of down there."

He paused, staring deep into her eyes. She was dying. She knew it, he knew it. The wounds he'd inflicted on her during the fight were beyond recovery, especially the repeated shocks he'd dealy her by overloading her central nervous system by with electricity. Her chakra was exhausted; she was not long for this world. To her, however, it was still wasn't quick enough.

"Stop gloating and finish it," she said quietly, pain lacing her words. Sasuke paused for only a brief moment, in which she opened her mouth to speak. He cut her off by jamming a kunai through her eye socket. He stood up, looking around and remembering to breathe. His teammates were alive and their foes were not. He found it odd that the latter part of that statement bothered him very little, while the former managed to inspire a great deal of relief for something he didn't know he was worried about.

_**Β**_

"So, they gave you a team."

Naruto did not much care for his godfather's inflection. They'd been walking down the street to a particular ramen bar when one of his oldest teachers had made that little statement, and it had certain implications that he wasn't particularly keen on. Naruto furrowed his brow before respondeding.

"Hey, what the heck is that supposed to mean?" he said, thrusting an accusative finger towards Jiraiya's chest. "You're one to be talk! I'm amazed my dad turned out as great as he did with a perverted teacher like you, Ero-Jiji!" But the Toad Sage just laughed, and Naruto's expression softened as a result. Team 7's sensei sighed; he just couldn't win sometimes.

"Yes, they gave me a team," he said with a slight pout, an expression that made Jiraiya ponder how very much like Kushina the boy, if he could still be called a boy, was. "A great team! I've got an Uchiha, and a Hyuuga, and a Nara, and they're awesome!"

Jiraiya continued to smile, actually impressed by such a lineup. It didn't surprise him all that much, and he had a good guess as to who that Uchiha was. Itachi was no fool; he'd no doubt entrust his brother to someone who he could, in turn, trust deeply. With Kakashi still refusing, or perhaps being refused the chance to, give up his place as the head of the ANBU it would only be natural that the hokage would turn to his oldest and most trusted friend in regards to Sasuke. It didn't hurt that while old hardliners were not particularly happy about who or what Naruto was, the son of Minato had proven himself as much a war hero as his father and had single-handedly swung the northwestern front for Konoha.

"I bet they're doing great right now, too!" Naruto continued, beaming. Jiraiya, however, seemed confused for only the briefest of moments before he realized just what Naruto was saying.

"You mean you've already got them in the exams?"

"Well, of course, they're totally awesome," the blond replied nonchalantly. Jiraiya seemed less assured.

"They've been genin for what, a few months? Putting them up against more experienced teams might teach them some things, but it's a bit dangerous, ain't it?" he said, scratching his chin, "It is nice to give them a glimpse of the future, I guess..."

"Ero-jiji, I don't think you understand," Naruto said, mock disapproval in his tone. "I fully expect them to pass."

"You... I... Naruto, I know your confidence has always been one of your best qualities, but don't you think you may be pushing them a bit too hard? Clan or not, they're still new at this and they don't have all the... benefits you did."

"Something is coming," Naruto said after a moment, catching Jiraiya off guard.

"Something?"

"Yeah... something big. I can feel it, you know? I just... I want them to be ready, I want Konoha to be ready. Konoha is going to need the best shinobi it can get, and my kids are ready to be chuunin. And... I need them to be." Naruto's tone was oddly serious, causing further confusion in his godfather. What was this boy up to now? The elder man simply sighed; trying to understand Naruto was a losing battle. To think him simple was a gross miscaulation.

Oh well. He was a good kid; he'd bounce back. Hopefully, so would his team.

_**Γ**_

Kabuto watched with only barely contained disgust as the spined beasts tore chunks off the bodies of the fallen. He had arrived at the site where his fellow Void-nin where supposed to have ambushed Konoha's Team 7. The pluck of a shamisen was not what he had intended to hear, nor was the Takigakure team he had been assigned to liaison with what he had expected to see. The girl, Fuu, was sitting seiza-style in the center of the clearing as she strummed her instrument. She was out of place surrounded by such carnage, but Kabuto knew the truth; while signs showed this was a battle that Kuukuugakure's erstwhile allies hadn't participated in, she wasn't at all squeamish about cleaning up.

The music she created was directing the insectoid beasts, five in all, and the purple ooze slowly pooling in the clearing was her work as well. From a purely academic mindset, Kabuto found it fascinating; he watched as one beast tore off a final chunk before slinking over to the ooze and beginning to dissolve, thrashing and howling in pain yet unable to react. They looked almost like dogs, except for the twin spines that extended up and over their heads, but the sounds they made were anything but canine. They were unlike anything the boy had ever heard, though he had a feeling that it was the sort of sound a demon might make.

"Yakushi, you seem disturbed. Is something bothering you?" Kabuto turned to find the girl's teammates there as well. The other girl leaned against one of the massive trees of the forest while the only male on the team was had his back to Kabuto, arms crossed in disapproval. The blind girl, dark-skinned and oddly clothed, had been the agent's primary contact. Hanuel, as she was called, seemed better suited for such things. Fuu was too cold, inspiring honest fear when she set her eyes on you, and Seok, the boy, was not cut out for leadership. Appearances were deceiving, as they often were, when it came to these Waterfall-nin; the blind girl was often the most perceptive, the young musician was cold and silent, and the boy with the appearance of a muscle-bound bruiser was reserved to a fault.

"Not at all, Hanuel-san," Kabuto replied with a smile, compartmentalizing his emotions and shunting them from his mind. "I'm simply surprised to see you here. I take it our allies did not survive the encounter."

"No." Hanuel pushed off from the tree and moved forward with a grace that seemed odd given the heavy metal grieves on her legs. "I'm curious why they sought to target a Konoha team of such stature; your agents' failure may raise some alarms. The Godaime Hokage is known for being prudent... and oddly prescient."

"It is poor taste to kill the messenger," Kabuto said with a wide smile and laugh, the soft sound at odds with the sizzle and crunch of the insectoid beasts' feasting and sacrifice. Kabuto noted that Seok seemed to cringe every time a bone snapped. Still, one out of three was not a good ratio of sane, non-psychopathic people by any stretch of the imagination.

"Fuu is simply cleaning up, you see," Hanuel said, a small smile of her own crossing her face."It would be a shame to let them go to waste."

"So this is Takigakure no Sato's legendary Mushiyashapou. The Demon Bug Arts are quite fascinating," he said, disappointed with himself for his honest interest in the disgusting act. Fuu looked up at him for a second, and then, for the briefest of moments, all sound seemed to stop; the sound of the beasts' feast, the ambient sound of the forest, and finally Fuu's discordant plucking at her shamisen. Both Fuu and her beasts seemed to lock eyes with Kabuto and the bespectacled boy suddenly found himself in a gruesome vision where he was the beasts' next meal.

And then it was gone, both the sounds and the creatures' feasting resuming. Kabuto waited just a moment, wondering how the blind girl could seem so calm around someone like Fuu, before pushing off to rejoin his team and hoping his dual masters were right about making a deal with a village that had shinobi like that.

_**Δ**_

Although Sasuke liked to consider he and his teammates as an assault team, it was times like this that made him realize it was far more accurate to describe them as, generously, a special operations team and, perhaps more accurately, as a scouting & reconnaissance team. They were a good distance from the target site, hidden amongst the trees of the forest while Hinata used her gift to survey the landscape. Sasuke found himself focusing more on her than anything else; his sharingan was useless at this range, and while he was still attempting to remain aware of the surroundings he found it increasingly difficult to ignore the girl's behavior.

Though they hadn't spoken of it, he knew Shikamaru agreed; Hinata was not in a good way. A few months ago he might not have even known how to recognize it, but now he felt it as keenly as if it was himself; she was distraught over her actions, yet too demure and taciturn to say a word. Between the gruesome discovery and her own actions in taking the life of the enemy shinobi who had attacked them, she had faced more than she had bargained for. Sasuke could see it in how she moved. She was slower to react, slower to respond even in the small ways she used to, and it worried him.

Worst of all, though, he had no idea what to do about it. He wasn't a people person. Sasuke just didn't do people. He could strike a fly out of the air with a shuriken, he could face down a predictive foe and come out on top, he could weave a net of wire and catch a foe as if he was a spider, but all this emotional stuff was not him. Besides, wasn't Shikamaru there for that sort of thing? He had friends, right? The fat kid and the dog boy, even the kid with the coat and glasses. But Shikamaru hadn't done anything, not since they'd left the battle site to come here. He had been the one to get Hinata to spy on the target, and maybe that was good, getting her mind off things. She was reciting the numbers of the foe and their equipment, along with other data, for Shikamaru to record down into one of his books.

Sasuke paused for a moment: Just how many of those things was Shikamaru carrying? He glanced over at the pineapple-haired boy, an odd expression on his face. Sasuke had seen him pull out no less then half a dozen different books, writing things on some, pulling things out of seals in others. As far as Sasuke could tell he'd stashed a ton of them on his person and pack. It made things easier, of course; most of their camping gear was stored in a book, and he was crazily prepared in that regard. No doubt there was some reasoning behind this, and Sasuke liked to think that by packing it all in now, Shikamaru expected he'd never have to prepare for something again, thus saving him comparatively more time. Or something. Honestly, attempting to figure out the logic of his teammates laziness was a losing prospect and Sasuke avoided it whenever possible.

In regards to Hinata, though, he was beginning to think she was in shock. A vague term, given it could mean a variety of things. This was more psychological, though she still showed physical symptoms, classic signs of withdrawal and depression. Sasuke had the odd sensation of wishing Naruto was here; his jounin-sensei had proven himself clever and, maybe, intelligent if not entirely bearable, and his female teammate had an obvious bond and crush on their teacher. He would know what to do, more than the basics that he and Shikamaru knew of. Which, ironically, meant they needed her to perform one last task before they could be done with this damned forest and all its inhabitants, human or otherwise.

"Seventeen targets; thirteen males, four females. A female seems to be in the lead. She has brown hair, and brown eyes."

Sasuke frowned as Hinata began to list off the traits of the targets with mechanical precision, Shikamaru recording them with as much speed as he could muster. He turned his attentions outward, unwilling to focus on his teammate's mental state or his feelings of uselessness, and instead found himself confronting the thought that he honestly didn't know when he'd become so at ease with this whole team thing.

When _had _that started? The Uchiha noticed it in small bursts. Familiarity was one thing, but where once had been at worst loathing or at best apathy was now replaced with honest concern; he was worried about Hinata. Honestly, completely, and genuinely worried. He realized with a scowl that his mind had just looped back, and he shot a sidelong glance at the girl before sighing...

Sasuke would just have to keep an eye on her, like he knew Shikamaru was doing, until the end of this. Then Naruto would know what to do. He wasn't entirely sure where the trust in his teacher had come from either, but he was too exhausted to care.

"We're done," Shikamaru said, catching Sasuke's glance and giving him a look that said far more than the Uchiha thought a look could. Solidarity, understanding, and a bit of respect as well. Feelings he found himself returning. He was forced to realize that he really had become part of this team.

Sasuke pushed off, and the other two fell into position behind him, even Hinata, who seemed perhaps somewhat better, though Sasuke could have just been seeing what he wanted. They were done, though. They were going to get help, and Sasuke simply took his singular desire to do so at face value. Thinking was making his brain hurt too much.

_**Ε**_

It was only a few hours before the deadline when the team from Takigakure no Sato arrived, turned in their report, and were admitted entry into the tower. Fuu, the ostensible leader of the group, remained silent as they entered the tower proper, ignoring the looks of the other assembled genin who had made it through. If she was at all surprised to see so many she let none of it show, and instead let it fall to her sizable male companion, the gold-armored Seok, who seemed both amazed and relieved from the expression on his face. The why of this might have escape anyone else who saw him, but the truth was he worried that Fuu's rampage might have torn a greater hole in the competition that he thought.

"So many," Hanuel said, giving voice to Seok's thoughts, as she often did. The large shinobi let a small smile cross his face.

"Seems that way," he said, stretching slightly. "Maybe the final test will actually be worthwhile, then. Nice exhibition brawl sounds fun."

For a blind girl, Hanuel's appraising expression was far more penetrating than should have been possible. Seok seemed to shrink back. The dark-skinned Hanuel made the slightest incline of her head, causing Seok to turn and look at their other teammate. Fuu looked at Seok with an odd expression, one that was hard to pinpoint between anger, sadness, disappointment, and a half a dozen other things. The gold-armored shinobi was opening his mouth to speak when Fuu turned on her heels and made a hasty retreat into the tower. Seok moved to follow, but Hanuel placed a hand on his shoulder.

"No, I'll talk to her," she said, softly, "I think that It must be being quite difficult as of late."

"I... I d-didn..."

Hanuel's look stopped his stammering apology. His head fell in dejection. That, however, was just unpalatable to the blind shinobi. She lifted his chin up and smiled.

"Don't worry. I know you don't mean it," she said, "You're a good person, Seok. I'm glad you're part of this."

He stared for a moment before nodding a reply. She turned and left afterward, leaving him alone with the other competitors, waiting, apparently, until the last second to be told what exactly the next part of this little test was going to be. He let his mind focus on that, and not on the dangerous girl he cared for that seemed to care for nothing herself.

_**Ζ**_

"The bodies have already been collected, as much as can be; the remains are hardly recognizable and I suspect we will be unable to report exact losses until all the rest of the teams are recovered," Itachi said, surveying the reactions of his assembled ninja. He'd gathered them to share the information acquired on the happenings of in the Forest of Death, with several bodies already found, if calling them bodies even fit anymore. "I suspect there is more to this than simple butchery; one of our teams has informed us that they were specifically targeted by a genin group from Kuukuugakure no Sato, each member bearing a gift that matched and countered their own abilities."

The hokage had a long enough handle on each of them to know more or less what they'd say. Shikaku Nara, his Jounin Commander, seemed to already be deep in thought. No doubt about the implications of this on a wider scale, diplomatically as well as the fact of how the news could affect the morale of the several thousand shinobi employed by Konohagakure. No doubt he found the entire situation to be troublesome and quite a drag, yet was dedicated already to minimizing any negative effects it may have. Moreover, the news of a team being targeted would have already tipped him off as to which team it was; Shikaku was no fool, and there was only one team with enough prestige to warrant such attention.

Kakashi, his ANBU Captain, was likewise pondering, but more importantly he was already forming plans to find those responsible and, no doubt, to check to make sure there wasn't more to this plan of targeting a team. That implied something more, and something covert. As the leader of the ANBU, it was his job to be ready for such actions, and he would be sure to get his agents ready for any such occurrences.

Hizashi, the newly minted commander of the equally new Konoha Security Forces, was planning external and public defenses. Indeed, though his organization was new, Hizashi was not, and the head of the Hyuuga Branch Family was a more than known quantity. Youko, Itachi's old teammate, was a Branch Hyuuga, and had spoken of Hizashi before. Moreover, as hokage, he had more than a little contact with the heads of all Konoha's resident clans, including those that had both main and branch families, of which the Hyuuga were one of several (there was even one that had several branch families, and indeed spawned more every few years due to arranged marriages or multiple births.) Finally, the man's actions in the last few weeks, even having just assumed his post, were significant. Although the reorganization of Konoha's defenses was only just beginning, it was nevertheless a large step forward, and many of Hizashi's organizational ideas were looking quite effective, to the point that Itachi was planning on integrating into both the shinobi and ANBU forces with time.

The young hokage knew all of this, but there was something else he also knew. He stood, turning to look out over the village he sat as the head of, watching as the sun set over the hokage's monument. He stared at the six faces on it, having long memorized each one but still finding solace in each. They were figures to learn from, and he had spent much time in meditation upon them. Each taught something new. Even the fifth, now outcast, had much to teach him. Danzou had achieved the position of Fourth Hokage legitimately and as such even in his now-rogue state his monument was not altered. Itachi's own face stared back at him at the end of the monument, and the hokage wondered if the last two faces were approaching confrontation again.

Only Kakashi might have the briefest hints of what Itachi suspected, and those would only be enlarged by the plans the hokage had been distributing to both the Security Forces and the ANBU. It was clear that the first Uchiha hokage thought something was coming.

Something big.

_**Ω**_

_**Author Note:**_

Didn't mean for this to take as long as it did. I realized that in my preliminary planning, this entire arc had something like thirty or so fight sequences, and those take forever to write. Suffice to say some replanning was necessary. I intend to mostly focus on the necessary preliminary fights, and they won't last particularly long; in my experience, fights usually don't last that long anyway, seems more fitting that they end rather abruptly. Though Naruto-sensei is not, in broad strokes, a representation of 'realistic' Naruto as it could be, and I hope some day is, done, it does have certain elements of more 'stylistic realism' and brutality, simply because that's how I write, and part of the messages I'm trying to get across.

In other news, there are three new stories that may or may not get a greenlight from my brain. One, another AU in a vastly different world where Samurai became the norm instead of Ninja, called Bushido, may be forthcoming... if I get myself to write it. The next is one I've previewed on the Viridian Dreams forums, known as Fierce Snake, a story where Anko took over the mentor role for Hinata, and the effects on both of them. Another involves Nagato and the others Rainkids ending up in Konoha after Jiraiya takes them back and the ripple effects of that, which add to my already gigantic pile of Naruto stories that I want to write but will likely never get around to. However, come Christmas, I may release a number of 'prologues' or first chapters to a lot of stories, to test waters and to, well, get the ideas out of my head, and have a building point for later.

Additionally, I doubt any of my current readers know of it but nearly ten years ago I wrote my first fan fiction, very amateur and very poor though they were, and set in the Zoids New Century/0 universe. I've had a new fic floating around in that world and in my head forever, and it's starting to get a bit cramped up there, it might want out to play.

Oh, and to the person who requested an update of character ages, I have one better for you. I'll be doing up a sort of 'databook' chapter on the characters in question, with ages and power rankings, as well as some jutsu information and a bit of backstory on certain characters, as well as setting info on the countries very shortly. In short, though, Naruto and Itachi are 18, the kids are 13, and everyone else is pretty much the same.

By the by, anyone know of any good Naruto RPs? I've been trying to find one forever. Have a bunch of ideas I'd love to use but all the ones I know of seem... meh or dead. Same goes for Star Wars RPs. If you know of any, toss me a message or drop a review. Either works.

Oh, and just to be sure in case my beta doesn't, he's got his own story starting up, for a different fandom, but if you're into that, check it out. I'll have him put the link in his note.

_**Beta Note:**_

Okay, there was a massive delay that was entirely my fault. This took me about a month. It really should have taken me a week and a half, two weeks at most, and while I have good excuses for some of that extra time, I don't have anywhere near enough of them for all of it. My sincere apologies.

That said, this did take quite a bit of work, especially early on. Some parts got completely rewritten. And to anyone still complaining about errors, well, you should have seen it beforehand. As always, if anyone likes or doesn't like how the tone's changed or anything like that, blame or praise me as you see fit.

And, yes, I've since started my own story. It's technically in the Digimon universe, but it's about as far removed from that as it's possible to be. I could easily just call it 'inspired by' or 'a tribute to' and it would work just as well. The original plan was for me to post Chapter 2 when this came out, so I could take full advantage of the plug, but I can't justify delaying this any longer. It'll be out tonight, if all goes well. I've also had a Naruto story in the works for the last year that may still see the light of day at some point, but I'm focusing on this for now.

My profile and a direct link to the first chapter are below.

.net/u/2218198/Snakebyte42

.net/s/7580567/1/Analogy


	13. Part 2, Chapter 5A

_**Α**_

He did not speak out. There was a moment, a brief moment of weakness and shock that nearly overtook Shikamaru and set him off. He nearly, so very nearly, made a sufficiently rude exclamation of surprise and displeasure at this revelation, but squelched it when he saw the look of concern on his sensei's face. Naruto-sensei seemed conflicted; on one hand, his team had made it, though he showed no surprise in that fact, simply happy to see them. The other side was this new development on top of Hinata's obviously precarious condition. Still, Shikamaru hadn't been able to speak with his sensei to explain...

The look on their sensei's face, however, made Shikamaru think that perhaps it he already knew. This talk of preliminary fights, however, seemed to be news.

"Let me be clear," the young hokage said, surveying the looks on the faces of the assembled genin quite intently. A small smile quirked the corner of his mouth as his eyes swept over Sasuke. "You are all exceptional shinobi for making it this far. You have proven yourselves as valuable members of your villages. However, as I'm sure you've already gathered, there are far more to these exams than simply promotions.

"Indeed, I mean no offense when I say they have next to nothing to do with promotion. I'm sure that some of you may very well earn one before all is said and done, but there is a reason a majority of chuunin are promoted either in the field, or through other means. These exams are held for one reason, justified through another, and produce a number of tertiary effects as well. It's complicated, obtuse, and honestly more than a bit disappointing, but such is the way of things in a world of deception.

"Decades ago, a daimyo of the territory now known as the Land of Lightning moved ten thousand troops to his border to conduct mock battles and training exercises with a neighboring country. His rivals in the territory took offense, one calling it 'playing at war.' The daimyo liked it so much he adopted the term 'war games' for the event, and began to regularly hold them. The stated goal was to provide training and experience for his samurai, but the reality of it was that he was demonstrating the power of his armies.

"In a few short weeks, the winners of these preliminary trials will be matched up to fight in public exhibition fights in the arena. The purpose of those fights is to demonstrate the ability of our shinobi to the world. Although only Konoha and its allied villages are attending the exams, it would be foolish to think that they are the only ones _attending._"

His smile grew somewhat as he accented the last word of the statement. The assembled genin seemed somewhat enthralled; the hokage's frank words and tone seemed to have caught them off guard.

"I fully expect operatives from each of the other major, and many of the smaller, shinobi forces around the world to be watching, and recording. We will demonstrate the best of our next generation, impressing clients, providing experience, and most of all showing that we _can _be free to demonstrate the best. We are showing them our best so that they will never get the wild idea that they should try to fight with us again."

Itachi tilted his head and nodded, causing a ninja with a pair of orange glasses and wild hair to step forward carrying large glass case that contained a number of small, white spheres, each one about half the size of a small egg.

"In order, each genin must come forward and retrieve one of these pairing markers. When it is your turn to fight, the marker will light up," the shinobi said, and then nodded to the first in the formation, "When you retrieve your marker, please make your way to the observation area."

One by one the competitors moved up and took their small marker. Team 7 was amongst the last to do so. Sasuke and Shikamaru escorted Hinata up to their sensei. Hinata looked up, eyes still slightly out of focus. Naruto frowned as he evaluated her, praying that she wasn't one of the first fighters; they needed to have a chat.

Naruto was about to open his mouth when the the marker began glow and hum. There was a sharp intake of breath as eyes swept the assembled contenders. A few feet away, Kiba held up his marker, the small sphere pulsing with light and sound. Far nearer, however, another thrummed. Hinata's eyes dropped and she sighed. Sasuke held his up, managing to form a smile; it appeared that he would go first. He glanced to Naruto, who responded with a simple nod.

"I believe in you, Sasuke; I'll be back soon," he said, causing Sasuke to stare at him in confusion, before he glanced to his female teammate, earning a nod from Naruto and understanding on Sasuke's part.

"Hinata," Naruto said, causing the young girl to look up, a flush of worry spreading across her face; there was something in her sensei's tone that she'd never heard before. "Follow me, we should talk."

Sasuke watched his sensei lead the young girl into a quieter section of the building for only a moment before shaking it from his mind. He turned, eyes locking with his former classmate. Kiba wore a wild grin, one that Sasuke couldn't help but return; something told him that this fight would be fun. Perhaps it was the prospect of fighting for something other than his life...

Kiba turned to head towards the stairs, but Sasuke moved more quickly. He vaulted over the railing, landing in the center of the arena. Kiba's grin turned into small scowl at being one-upped, a feeling Sasuke only worsened as he began to stretch lightly, as if going for a jog.

"Well, aren't you cocky," Kiba said, "I'll show you, punk! You're nothing! Just a second-rate knock off!"

Up in the observation level, Ino screeched out something indignant, demanding her teammate take back his insults. The outburst earned a hurt look from Kiba, closely resembling a kicked puppy. He turned, Sasuke having assumed a loose stance. Just the barest twinges of annoyance at Kiba's words washed over his face. That was all it took, though, as Kiba's resolve hardened...

"I can smell it all the way over here, the stink of second-rate," he continued, moving to the starting position across from Sasuke and dropping into a stance, "Just the knock-off version of your brother, Sasuke, and I'm going to prove it."

_**Β**_

Hinata felt intensely conflicted under the withering gaze of her teacher. She'd never seen Naruto so... The first word that came to her mind was 'serious', but that wasn't quite right; she'd seen him very serious, particularly during their time in the Land of Waves. Neither was 'angry', as she'd never really seen him get angry and this didn't hold any of the conflict that angry eyes had. It wasn't pity or worry or anything, really. She found it impossible to match his gaze, eyes darting down to contemplate her navel most intently.

Naruto, though, had other plans.

"Look at me, Hinata," he said, and Hinata winced; his eyes might be hard to read, but his voice was unmistakable; it held that same tone of reproach and disappointment she'd heard from her father time and time again, years ago. That look had faded into curt speech over time; her father had stopped critiquing her at all, for good or ill, some time ago. But she remembered that toneclearly.

"Look at me," Naruto repeated, and Hinata struggled. After a moment, her head slowly rose. Breath caught in her throat; his eyes... they weren't right. Not anger, not pity. Remorse, even regret, but also... relief? She'd seen those eyes before. They were so familiar, but...

He hugged her. Her face seemed to be on fire. She would have squeaked if she could get a sound out at all; he wasn't hugging her that tight, but she felt as if there was a thousand pounds on her chest.

"You did good, Hinata," he said, and sighed. It was true, she had done well; Ero-jiji had been right, though. He was pushing them hard. He had told himself how much he needed to do it, how it had to be done.

And that was true, but that didn't make it any easier.

"When I was eight, Kumogakure managed to infiltrate a force of shinobi, led by their head-nin, into the village," he began. Hinata seemed to settle into his arms, almost slumping against him. His words didn't seem to click until he began speaking again.

"I was a genin, Itachi and Youko too," he continued, staring off into nothing. Hinata's mind began to run through things; she knew that name, and she knew the raid he was talking about, too. Not in a historic sense, either; she remembered it for other, less savory reasons.

"We were back from the front; we had graduated a year earlier and they already had us out to augment the Fire Daimyo's troops. It was good to be back home, for some rest and to just... deal with everything. We didn't entirely have that luxury, though, when the attack came. It was small, ninja only. My team rushed off to intercept."

Naruto looked distant for a moment, and then chuckled softly.

"It wasn't my first kill, but for some reason it's the one I remember. Not 'cause of his rank or anything, either. I caught the attack leader from behind; he had apparently grabbed a young Hyuuga. I remember throwing the kunai and thinking it had been too simple. He just... collapsed," Naruto said, looking down to find Hinata's eyes.

"You know, after I dropped the Hyuuga off, I never did find out who it was; I pretty much rushed back out after returning her to the compound. It's all sorta blurry, really," he said with a laugh that held no actual humor. Hinata just stared at him. And then she laughed too. A real laugh, full and hearty. Naruto looked worried for a moment, and then just smiled.

He just didn't get this girl some times...

_**Ω**_

_**Author Note:**_

You know, on a random tangent, have you ever stepped back to think how much fanon we incorporate into things without thinking? Looking back, there are a number of aspects of this story that exist only on fanon speculation or concepts, and I'm tempted to shift out and retcon a few simply because now that I see them, they bother me a bit. The smallest things, really. A few remain simply because they are integrated into the story, though.

You may note that from now on, Danzou will be spelled as Danzo. I know this is a slightly inconsistent romanization, but I just prefer Danzo to Danzou; looks better. So that's how it is.

My beta suggested I break this into smaller parts. I instead chopped literally the entire prelims and am throwing them into a smaller bit. This is basically just so you know that the story isn't dead; I'm working on it, I like it, its just... spotty. Incidentally, a rework of Pack Light is forthcoming, as well.

I really need to hack through this and get to the fun stuff. Note I'm also writing a few other stories, so things are... spotty. Such is life and writing. And also, fuck writing like twenty fight scenes... I hate to do it, but I'm pulling a Kishi and going to skim a lot of them. Which sucks as I'm sure in full they'd be great, but the time and effort involved in fight scenes is like ten times that of other scenes and I just don't have the heart.

_**Beta Note:**_

Delay's totally not my fault this time! Huzzah!

I had very little to fix this time around, so I'm gonna use this space to plug a story of mine instead. It's Naruto this time, spinning out of ideas I had while I still wrote on a Naruto RP board, though they've changed a lot since then. It's focusing on three original characters right now, with fighting styles and abilities that I can't _wait_ to get into, but there are canon characters in the background and more will pop up in important places later.

It's technically a 'for want of a nail' story, but it's a lot less direct than Naruto-Sensei is, and I don't really want to ruin the surprise. Let's just say that it's set around the beginning of the series, that Danzo's been Hokage for several years, and that the turning point has to do with Minato and Orochimaru. Two chapters up so far, more coming. User and story links below.

u/2218198/Snakebyte42

s/7766902/1/Abraded_Lives

Also I am _horrible_ at summaries.

Oh, and if anyone actually wants to contact me, please do so there or by PM. It only occurred to me that people might be saying things to me in reviews. I probably should have thought of that ages ago.

_**Data Notes:**_

**Naruto Namikaze**, Age 18, Jounin: The Jounin-sensei of Team 7 and minor hero of the later part of the Third Shinobi World War, Naruto Namikaze was known as "Konoha's One-Man Army" for his massive skill with the Kage Bunshin, an ability he learned from his close friend, Itachi. A growing adept at fuinjutsu in addition to ninjutsu and taijutsu, he is the jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, but maintains an antagonistic relationship with his bijuu, limiting its usefulness. In what might be a sign of foresight, Naruto has been training his team quite quickly, ramping them up far faster than most other teachers due to his belief that something big is on the horizon that needs to be prepared for.

Naruto comes from a lineage of jinchuuriki. His mother was the second jinchuuriki, and her being so caused the whisker marks on Naruto's cheeks. The seal on her containing the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox failed when Naruto was five, and he was chosen as a replacement by Naruto's father due to necessity and trust. Minato managed to complete the sealing before succumbing to his wounds. However, being directly related to and a bad reminder of his parents' death is one of the reasons Naruto is so reluctant to have anything to do with the beast inside of him. Power Rating: A

**Itachi Uchiha**, Age 18, Hokage: The Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato and head of the Uchiha Clan, Itachi Uchiha is amongst the most powerful shinobi alive due to his mastery of the sharingan. A long-time associate of Naruto Namikaze, they were teammates at one point, and this has had a large effect on Itachi's life, just as Itachi has helped shape Naruto. Itachi has been making strange moves as of late, as if anticipating something grave to come.

Itachi served in the Third Shinobi World War, the shadowy side of a much larger power struggle between the Elemental Countries. Staunchly loyal to his home and friends, his relationship with Naruto Namikaze had a great shaping effect on Itachi, and was likely directly responsible for his 'taking the third option' and discrediting the Fourth Hokage. Power Rating: A+

**Sasuke Uchiha**, Age 13, Genin: The Hokage's younger brother, Sasuke felt trapped in his brother's shadow long before Itachi ever became hokage, and his ascension has only made Sasuke more determined to make a name for himself. A true genius, he nevertheless finds himself one step behind his brother, a fact that has not made his life easy. His desire and drive push him to be the best, but may be his undoing without careful guidance. Power Rating: C+

**Shikamaru Nara**, Age 13, Genin: The son of Shikaku Nara, the current Jounin-Commander of Konohagakure, Shikamaru is an aloof, often lazy boy who has natural talent for both strategy and his family's techniques, yet would prefer to spend his life lazing about. However, an ingrained sense of loyalty and curiosity may betray a deeper desire to be somebody, or perhaps simply a desire to secure his place to facilitate lazier behavior in the future. Whatever the case, he is the closest thing to a leader that the genin in Team 7 have; first in neither skill nor power, his intelligence is the driving force behind their coordination and unity. Power Rating: C

**Hinata Hyuuga**, Age 13, Genin: _De jure _heiress to the Hyuuga Family main branch, Hinata has struggled with her self-image her entire life, not helped by her lack of innate talent towards the family arts. Her father is often aloof, and it is her uncle, in an odd turn of events, that has taken to training her. She is the first Main Branch Hyuuga to be a registered shinobi of the village in several generations, and this is one of the reasons it is suspected that she will not be the actual heir to the clan. Since her graduation, she has slowly begun to show signs of greater confidence and skill, as well as a perhaps unhealthy obsession with her sensei. Power Rating: C-

**Kakashi Hatake**, Age 27, Jounin: Head of the ANBU Black Ops, Kakashi is several years Itachi's senior and, at one time, was his commander. Itachi trusts him implicitly, and has steadfastly refused Kakashi's requests to return to normal duty precisely because of this fact. He bears a sharingan eye, one of the few well known doujutsu transplants; remarkable, given it was done in the field. As stories spread of this act, the person who performed the operation became a target, and has since disappeared, much to Kakashi's chagrin. It is something of an open secret to the ANBU and Hokage that he is searching for his old friend, though never in ways that would compromise his ability to perform. Yet. Power Rating: A

**Hiashi Hyuuga**, Age 42, Clan Head: Technically never a ranked member of the shinobi forces of Konoha like nearly every Main Branch Hyuuga before him, Hiashi is nevertheless a skilled martial artist whose mastery of the family styles cannot be underestimated. He often comes off as cold, aloof, perhaps even cruel, but something more hides behind his seemingly odd behavior. He has made deals with the hokage and other clans that are as unprecedented as they are secret; his plans remain, for now, a mystery. Power Rating: B+

**Hizashi Hyuuga**, Age 42, Jounin: Head of the newly formed Konoha Security Forces Squadron, Hizashi is also head of the Hyuuga Branch Family. Although sometimes unhappy with his place in the world, Hizashi serves faithfully, both to his family and village. He has served as a balancing point for his brother, though his son has grown resentful under what he sees as the injustice of his father's position. Power Rating: B+

**Danzo Shimura**, Age 69, Missing-nin: Perhaps the only kage to have ever gone rogue, Danzo Shimura was the Yondaime Hokage, rising to power after the death of Hiruzen Sarutobi during the Third Great World War. However, his brutal actions towards the Uchiha clan that were exposed by Itachi Uchiha, a war hero in his own right, led to Danzo being forced to flee his village. It is unknown why he chose not to fight, and indeed the village suffered surprisingly little, though their prestige took a hit from this act. However, he seems to have fallen in with another old enemy of Konohagakure in his time of exile... Power Rating: A?

**Orochimaru**, Age 51, Missing-nin: Another old shame of Konohagakure, Orochimaru was once in the running for the position of hokage, a position that later went to Danzo Shimura, his current 'partner in crime.' Holding less ire against the village now that his old master is dead and gone, he still has other plans for the village that bode poorly, and has established his own village, Kuukuugakure no Sato, to further his research into kekkei genkai for unknown reasons. Power Rating: A?

**Land Of Fire  
**Population: 4  
Size: 4  
Infrastructure: 3  
Economy: 4  
Conventional Leadership: 2.5  
Unconventional Leadership: 5  
Conventional Military: 2.5  
Unconventional Military: 5  
Total: 30

The Land of Fire is one of the most populous of the Elemental Countries; it is a healthy size, and its population live well due to the temperate climate of grasslands and forest that make it prosperous for farmers and hunters alike, though the aforementioned forests can grow quite thick and often resist urban expansion. This lack of space has implications in more than simply population, of course. It also affects the infrastructural capabilities of the nation. While there is a very functional road system throughout the country, it is hardly well developed in all areas and is even becoming overgrown in remote locations. Very little of it is paved in any way, simply packed dirt, and this can make travel somewhat difficult in many locations, though the roads between the major cities are far better off.

This has further implications in the matter of trade and economy; the Land of Fire grows far more than it needs, usually, and is a prolific exporter as a result, importing materials it cannot easily acquire itself, as well as foreign luxury items. Taxes in the Land of Fire are fairly low, with a daimyo that understands the implications of such things and is eager to grow the power of his nation, though his methods leave something to be desired, and he largely delegates leadership to his lessers. However, he is also quite naïve; his conventional armies have languished under low funding as the conventional sort of war has grown cold, even as the Third Great World War lurks in the shadows.

The armies of the Land of Fire were primarily volunteer, often career soldiers, but have found themselves without work. A few have become bandits and raiders, but most are far more civilized, integrating with the farm and timber based economy of their homeland once more. It should be noted that if called, most would return, bringing their expertise back to the armies. However, they hardly even qualify as reserve forces, and are thus not a true strategic concern for fast attacks. There are, however, a number of former soldiers who now work for lesser lords and samurai, who keep them better supplied, and thus can be considered true reserves in that they'd not only have the equipment if called, but a ready leader who they trust.

Thankfully, offsetting the sometimes childish, if good intentioned, leadership of the country is their unconventional leaders. Chief amongst these are Itachi Uchiha, the the Goidame Hokage, and Inyou, the Grand Master of the Fire Temple. The Fire Temple is the largest of the Monk facilities in the Land of Fire, and one of the largest monastery complexes in the world. The Fire Temple hosts a large force of Sohei, or warrior-monks, trained to use chakra in unique ways that are unknown to ninja. The shinobi forces of the Land of Fire are amongst the best in the world, as well, with numerous legends amongst them. Although they have only one Jinchuuriki, theirs is of a remarkable pedigree and skill, though he has not yet unlocked the full potential of his beast.


	14. Part 2, Chapter 5B

_**Α**_

Sasuke stared at his hand. It was bandaged, fingers themselves still visible though the rest of the hand all the way up to his elbow was wrapped in rather foul-smelling cloth. They were treated bandages, designed to help augment chakra flow to the area to assist in healing.

It was good, too, because without them it would have taken months to repair the fracture in his right arm. He'd slammed his fist into Kiba's face so hard that the blow-back broke his arm in two places and tore much of the skin off his knuckles. The blow had thrown Kiba into the wall and secured his victory.

From what was said, Kiba was going to be fine; the medical-nin weren't slouches, and such minor reconstructive work was simple. The blow sounded far worse than it actually was; Sasuke had thrown chakra to enhance it, but that was only because he was so exhausted physically that without it his fist would have done next to nothing, and he hadn't even had enough left to reinforce his arm from the blow, hence the damage to himself.

He had stared at Kiba's crumpled body for a moment, arm outstretched. Silence had fallen over the room; even his cheering fangirls seemed to have stopped. Sasuke looked up, over to where his brother, his hokage, was watching. Vision fading, he struggled to see the expression on Itachi's face. Did he do well? Did he prove he wasn't just second-rate?

Sasuke was rushed to the infirmary alongside his opponent. That was hours ago now; he hadn't seen anyone since he'd woken up. The young Uchiha felt so drained; he could barely feel the chakra flowing through his arm. He fell back, head slumping against the pillow. He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, smelled the clean, antiseptic air, and sighed.

"I wonder if that counted as a win..."

"It did."

It was to Sasuke's credit that he didn't shoot out of his bed in surprise. Indeed, he was so tired that all he could really muster was to turn his head. Naruto was crouching on the dresser. The various accouterments that had once been on top of it where a scattered mess, but his blond-hair teacher seemed rather unperturbed by this fact.

"You're going on to the finals, against one of the foreign ninja. The chick, from the Waterfall village. Very kicky," he said hopping down. He opened his mouth again, but Sasuke cut him off.

"How is Kiba?"

That, it seemed, caught Naruto slightly off guard, but he smiled nevertheless.

"And here I was about to lecture you... he's fine. He refused to have his face completely repaired, too; he says it looks more 'rugged now,' and he's already saying how he's going to demand a rematch."

Naruto's smile fell slightly as he continued to speak.

"I spoke with his sensei, as well. Another rookie, like me. Kurenai was understanding, though. One of her other students... Ino, I think it is? She seems quite taken with you," Naruto said, grinning lecherously at the end. Sasuke groaned, but that just made Naruto cackle.

"Yeah, well, what about Hinata?"

Naruto nearly choked on his laughter at that, "W-what do you mean?"

"How is she?" Sasuke said, choosing to ignore the other response. The last thing he needed was to imagine any more awkwardness out of his teacher or teammate. It was just... weird.

"Oh! Yeah, she's fine. Had a chat, much better now." Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed, "She won too! Took on some other Konoha guy, older class than you. Nasty stuff, chakra drainer. She was amazing, though! The way she moved, wouldn't let him touch her at all! Watch out, you might have a rival in the finals, I think!"

Sasuke turned back to stare at the ceiling, wondering if perhaps wishing for company was the wrong thing to do; he'd forgotten how exhausting his sensei's exuberance could be. "And Shikamaru?"

"He's good too. Got a bye, can you believe that? He just called it troublesome anyway, though, big surprise there. Well, you seem tired, so I'm gonna head out, see ya!"

He was gone before Sasuke could even respond.

_**Β**_

Amongst the dark night of the village, three figures stood and spoke in hushed tones. Most foreign visitors were either invited to stay with a clan or family for the duration. The few that weren't, for one reason or another, were lodged in one of the more prestigious areas of the village. There was much security, and yet for this reason, the three elite jounin found it all the easier to slip away to conduct their covert meeting.

"One of your students did not pass into the finals. Will you still be able to hold up your end of the bargin?"

Ji tapped his cane against the ground and huffed softly; he did not care for these Hidden Void Village types. They had power; they'd shown that quite readily, which is why the Hidden Waterfall Village had agreed to join them in their otherwise suicidal action against the Hidden Leaf Village. Ji wasn't really sure he entirely agreed even now; but the Jounin Council had been swayed, and that was that.

It was Ji's place to facilitate the actual execution of the plans with them, and he would follow his orders. That was his place, as a shinobi. He didn't, however, have to like it. As fate would have it, he didn't. At all.

"Seok's loss was not unexpected, nor unacceptable. Indeed, I think it serves as a useful distraction; I don't think I need to remind you that our actions here will secure our place in the world; this test, it is irrelevant."

"Covering for your student?" Riko said. She drew out the words, tone almost playful. Or it would be if it didn't make the older man's skin crawl. Too experienced to let it show, though he suspected she did it on purpose, Ji simply tapped his cane again. However, it was the woman's erstwhile companion who responded first.

"No, he is correct," Katio said, "Though our own were never intended to last, one of theirs failing out serves to deflect further suspicion. Do not forget, only the one need be in the arena."

"The Waterfall risks much in this; I question if you can deliver upon your promises." Ji tapped his cane again, eyes darting between the two. The woman, she was slippery, rarely seeming to say much of importance. Her male companion, on the other hand, spoke more clearly. Ji had learned to pay attention to the by play between the two, however, as the real flow of the conversation.

"Aren't you a cheeky one." Riko shifted up next to him. He remained still, a remarkable show of self-restraint. He spoke to Kaito, ignoring his repulsive companion.

"Are your operatives in place, then?"

"Of course." Kaito folded his arm across his chest. "The Elemental Five are our finest field agents; they'll be in place when..."

He stopped suddenly, face turning off into the darkness.

"Spooked, my dear Ito?" Riko cooed, hiding their own worries behind a playful tone; Kaito Ito was nothing if not precise and ordered. He did not spook, period.

Kaito waited a moment, expression remaining the same throughout despite his movement.

"No," he said finally, turning back, "It was nothing."

_**Γ**_

Kakashi appeared mostly suddenly, stepping out from the reality-defying swirl one moment and placing a hand on the shoulder of Itachi the next.

"Sorry, I need to borrow him for a moment," he said to the hokage's dark-haired female companion. Itachi's long-suffering lover didn't even bat an eyelash; this wasn't the first time Kakashi had entered this way, nor would it be the last. She simply sighed as the ANBU Captain and Itachi disappeared in yet another swirl.

No rest for the wicked, it would seem.

_**Ω**_

_**Author Note:**_

I'm easily distracted and finding time to finish things out is hard. I've had most of this sitting on my hard drive for a few months, but my issue is always FINISHING it. I figured a better way is to just post what I have to make it clear it ain't dead.

Small bites, I'd say, will become the name of the game.

Also, for those interested, I have a thread for this up on the SpaceBattles forums. Google it. Its in the Creative Writing section, might be a few posts back. Expect snips and chapter bits there before its updated here, likely.

_**Beta Note:**_

Nothing to say about this, it was simple enough and I barely had anything to correct. Coincidentally, though, I just updated my Digimon fic yesterday!

/s/7580567/3/Analogy

Probably there's no crossover of interest here, but hey, I'm proud of this chapter and it's worth a shot!

_**Data Notes:**_

**Land of Lightning  
**Population: 3  
Size: 3.5  
Infrastructure: 4  
Economy: 3  
Conventional Leadership: 3.5  
Unconventional Leadership: 4.5  
Conventional Military: 4  
Unconventional Military: 4.5  
Total: 30  
The Land of Lightning was the second of the elemental countries to form and the second to have a Hidden Shinobi Village. Due to mountainous terrain that makes it hard to maintain large farming industry, the Land of Lighting is unsuitable for large populations, but makes up for this by producing a hardy, prosperous people who have thrived in otherwise quite verdant lands. Lightning Country is flush with natural resources, particularly ore and stone for obvious reasons, but also has a surprisingly large fishing industry due to a number of large lakes that make the mountainous country ironically highly dependent on fishing as a source of food. Although the Land of Lightning does not have the greatest quantities of raw metals and precious stones, they do have the mines that produce it with the greatest quality. Lightning Steel is synonymous with quality.  
This concept of quality over quantity makes the Land of Lightning the closest to the Land of Fire in modus operandi, though the Land of Lightning takes it one step further in some cases, mostly due to necessity. Unable to maintain the population or economy of the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning instead has invested even more in infrastructure to more efficiently use the materials they do have at hand. Their relative proximity and more open nature also means that they have prospered militarily, with a number of ronin samurai from the Land of Iron having made their homes in the Land of Lightning hundreds of years ago. This cross-pollination has led to a unique trend amongst both the conventional and unconventional military forces of the country.  
Augmented by their easy access to extremely high quality metal and the mix of samurai and shinobi traditions, kenjutsu is elevated to an almost universal art amongst the warriors of the Land of Lightning. Swordsmen make up a large bulk of their conventional forces, and even the pikemen and archers employed always carry a sword, likely one of their personal ownership as well, unlike the loanswords that the ashigaru of other nations are known for. Shinobi are almost universally trained in the use of the sword in one form or another, even if they choose not to follow it as a dedicated discipline.  
This old tradition of martial prowess has also led to a remarkably large standing army. Land of Lightning caravans are well guarded, shipping high-quality metals and stones all across the world under the best swords money can buy, and often then some. Unlike the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning has not backed down from their standing forces in the wake of the forced cease-fire and ostensible peace, very much seeing the war as still active, even as their traders now return to the Land of Fire to do business. Both the Daiymo and Raikage see this as a necessary evil, and are willing to exploit it for the intelligence opportunities it presents rather than trying to hinder it, something that would only cause long term pain for the nation as a whole.  
Both the Raikage and the Daimyo greatly distrust each other, but work together based upon the greater external threat. However, much like the trade that has returned to the world, the distrust and enmity between the two has returned even if they try to pretend the war is still ready to break out any day, and it is only a mix of decent and mutually assured destruction that prevents the two leaders of the country from going to war. The Grand Master of the Lightning Temple, second largest monk temple and order in the world, stays out of such things, and is less inclined to join the forces of the Land of Lightning on the battlefield, though these warrior-monks are hardly ready to let a foreign power sink their teeth into their ancestral home.  
The Village Hidden in the Clouds is incontrovertibly the second greatest of the shinobi villages, and they know it. They greatly envy the first place spot, however, and have sent many attempts to steal the bloodlines from Konoha they think will be enough to push their village over the top. They possess two jinchuuriki, both skilled with their beast though the youngest of these is only just beginning to learn. She was an emergency sealing more than anything, protected only because she has the strange favor of some very powerful forces as well as the patronage of the Raikage's 'brother', the other Jinchuuriki and an easy rival for the spot of most powerful extant one at that. Although it is a 'lesser beast' (itself a concept not entirely known to be true or false), the jinchuuriki of the Eight-Tailed Bull Octopus is in full partnership with his beast in contrast to the barely acknowledged nature of the Nine-Tails in its own host, who utilizes the bijuu's power only very reluctantly. This could have dire consequences should war return.  
Nominally, the Land of Lightning is currently at war with both the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth. Realistically, they haven't had a true battle in years, though skirmishes break out from time to time. Likewise, while never official, the Land of Water was often at odds with the Land of Lightning.

**Land of Earth**  
Population: 5  
Size: 4  
Infrastructure: 2.5  
Economy: 2  
Conventional Leadership: 3  
Unconventional Leadership: 4  
Conventional Military: 5  
Unconventional Military: 3.5  
Total: 28.5  
The Land of Earth is a brutal and harsh place, rich in mineral wealth but yet unable to match other nations, despite their attempts. Similar to the Land of Lightning, the Land of Earth is filled with rugged terrain that is hardly suitable for agriculture, but its sheer size makes its population far larger than the other nations, combined with the fact that they have adapted to the lifestyle well. However, they are also a brutal people; the moment one outgrows their usefulness they are unlikely to live much longer. This had led to a combination of low life expectancies, and a small group of extremely skilled older population that endure despite their age. Case in point, the current Tsuchikage is the oldest of the kage, and yet is also easily amongst the most powerful in that he possesses the rare gift of a kekkei touta. Moreover, his experience is beyond that of any of the other kage, though in his old age he has grown stubborn and belligerent, even more so as the Third Great Shinobi World War turned against him.  
Near opposite of both the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire's methods, the Land of Earth employs a massive army that stresses quantity to overwhelm an enemy. However, their mountainous, rocky home has led to a uniquely mobile force. The Land of Earth is the master of the maneuver, capable of manipulating massive forces in ways that defy even the smaller forces of other nations. Indeed, only the forces of the Land of Wind who move very much like their namesake tend to be able to out maneuver the Land of Earth forces, and even then only in friendly terrain. Of course, once battle is fully met the Land of Earth often finds itself outmatched; often, morale is low and the maneuvers and brutality of the commanders will be forgotten in the face of enemy spears.  
While the Land of Earth boasts the largest army, this is only because, in theory, each adult male, starting at the age of around fourteen, is considered to be a member of the army, and given basic training in one role or another. These peasant conscripts don't even match up to the basic ashigaru used by the other nations, many of which have become de facto professional soldiers, even if the samurai and shinobi remain the de jure exclusive hold on that title. As a result of this system, the Land of Earth tends to suffer from attrition far more than other nations; their entire workforce is often drained by war, and and their costly and brutal choices tend to waste lives.  
The Land of Earth is also unique that its daimyo holds comparatively little power compared to the kage. The tsuchikage's age and ability means that he holds de facto control over the entirety of the nation, though he tends to leave the daimyo to himself, and in turn the daimyo does his best to respond to whatever the tsuchikage decides. The Land of Earth exports a number of materials, though their metal and other ore exports are not of the quality of Lightning material, but they are in greater bulk, and as a result, they actually tend to monopolize the market in some regions. Additionally, when not at war, they produce a massive surplus of agricultural produce as well, serving to feed a large portion of the world as a result.


End file.
